Accurate horticultural sprinkler system and sprinkler head

ABSTRACT

The present invention includes a unique irrigation sprinkler system with a unique sprinkler head design; a unique method of defining the planted area to be served by the sprinkler head; a unique method for determining when that planted area needs to be watered; a unique way of providing even coverage throughout the planted area when being watered; the ability to use one sprinkler head to individually water multiple, non-overlapping planted areas; a unique way of addressing multiple sprinkler heads in the same sprinkler system; and a unique method for remotely determining the integrity of the sprinkler system.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention is for a sprinkler system and a sprinklerhead design, namely, a sprinkler system having one low pressure waterfeed line that serves a plurality of individually actuated and programedsprinkler heads. The individually programed and actuated sprinkler headsmake it possible to deliver an accurate amount of water at a frequencydesired for the specific type of plant being served by the individualsprinkler head.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] One of the major problems with horticultural sprinkler systemsusing the presently available components is devising a system designthat provides the appropriate amount of water with the proper frequencyfor all of the various plants in the area to be automatically sprinkled.Some plants need deep watering while others require shallow watering;others require that the foliage not be wet during sprinkling to minimizethe development of various diseases and infestations, while other plantsare immune to such infestations or require wetting of the foliage duringwatering; some plants require watering daily or on alternate daysparticularly in warm or hot weather, while others are drought tolerantand need watering only once or twice a month. Then there are thoseplants that require protection from frost in cold weather while othersdo not. And how do you deal with a tropical plant that requires heavyand frequent watering that is planted in close proximity to droughttolerant plants that only require sparse watering, or different soiltypes which occur throughout a large planted area? These are veryserious problems that may not be solvable with the present sprinklerequipment and controls that are currently available once the landscapinghas been established.

[0003] Due to problems such as those recited above, in today's marketone's landscaping and sprinkler system are usually designed andinstalled simultaneously so that all of the plants served by eachcircuit of the sprinkler system have similar watering requirements.Thus, sprinkler systems that are currently in use today require multiplewatering circuits and various types of sprinkler heads with variouscoverage patterns.

[0004] It would be desirable if there was a horticultural sprinklersystem that had none of the drawbacks of those presently available, andparticularly a system that can just as readily be installed in anestablished landscaped area as together with the installation of newlandscaping. Even more desirable would be a sprinkler system that easilypermitted the introduction or removal of plants throughout thelandscaped area and corresponding reprogramming of sprinkler heads, oreven the enlarging of the landscaped area. A system that providesunrestricted creativity in the selection and placement of types andspecies of plants would also be very desirable. In addition it would bedesirable to have a sprinkler system that requires the least number ofparts, particularly different types, styles and coverage patternsprinkler heads, preferably a single style sprinkler head. The presentinvention meets all of these requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The present invention presents a unique irrigation sprinklersystem with a unique sprinkler head design; a unique method of definingthe planted area to be served by the sprinkler head; a unique method fordetermining when that planted area needs to be watered; a unique way ofproviding even coverage throughout the planted area when being watered;the ability to use one sprinkler head to individually water multiple,non-overlapping planted areas; a unique way of addressing multiplesprinkler heads in the same sprinkler system; and a unique method forremotely determining the integrity of the sprinkler system.

[0006] Each sprinkler head of the present invention irrigation sprinklersystem is disposed to be coupled to the same water feeder line todeliver water to a planted area of interest. Each sprinkler head of thepresent invention includes an input port disposed to be coupled to thewater feeder line with a control value coupled to the input port toprovide controlled water flow through the control valve to the interiorof the sprinkler head. In addition there is a flow rate monitoring unitadjacent the control value to monitor the water flow rate as it exitsthe control valve for delivery to a nozzle with a proximate end adjacentthe flow rate monitoring unit to receive the water flow from the controlvalve and to expel the water from the distal end of the nozzle to theplanted area of interest. The sprinkler head further includes a drivemeans affixed to the nozzle for angularly positioning the distal end ofthe nozzle, and an angular position monitoring unit to determine theposition of the drive means. To control the operation of the variouscomponents of the sprinkler head, there is also a sprinkler head controlsubsystem coupled to the control valve, the flow rate monitoring unit,the drive means and the angular position monitoring unit to monitor andcontrol the water flow rate through, and the angular position of, thenozzle to deliver water to the planted area of interest.

[0007] One embodiment of the flow rate monitoring unit could include aflexible finger having a proximate end mounted to a fixed positionrelative to the water flow and a distal end extending into the path ofthe water flow. In this embodiment, the distal end of the flexiblefinger is in a relaxed position when the water flow rate is zero and adisplaced position when the water flow rate is non-zero, with the extentof the displaced position being directly related to the water flow rate.Additionally there is a magnet mounted at either a fixed positionadjacent the distal end of the flexible finger or on the distal end ofthe flexible finger. Working in cooperation with the magnet, there is aflow rate magnetic field sensor at the other position adjacent themagnet to provide an electrical signal that is directly related to thestrength of the magnetic field detected from the magnet. The strength ofthat detected magnetic field in turn is strongest when the water flowrate is zero and of decreasing strength the greater the water flow rate,i.e., the signal strength is greatest when the magnet is closest to flowrate magnetic sensor with the signal strength deceasing the furtherapart the magnet and the flow rate magnetic sensor are from each other.

[0008] An embodiment of the angular position monitoring unit similarlyincludes a magnet mounted at either a fixed position adjacent the drivemeans or on the drive means. The corresponding angular position magneticfield sensor is then mounted at the other location with the angularposition magnetic field sensor providing the strongest electrical signalwhen the magnet is adjacent the angular position magnetic field sensorto define the zero degree angular position for the nozzle. The zeroposition is then determined before the control subsystem causes thedrive means to operate between selected angular positions in thedelivery of water to the planted area of interest.

[0009] The overall sprinkler system of the present invention, as statedabove, provides water from a water source to the planted area ofinterest, with the sprinkler system including a water feeder linedisposed to be coupled to the water source which could provide waterfrom a marginal water pressure, perhaps as low as 20 psi (pounds persquare inch) or normal city water system pressures in the range of 60 to90 psi, or at even higher pressures. Coupled to that water feeder lineis at least one a sprinkler head of the type discussed above, orequivalent to that sprinkler head. Additionally, each sprinkler head isindividually electrically controllable during the watering cycle tocontinuously vary the angular position of, and the water flow ratethrough, the nozzle to the planted area of interest to provide evencoverage of that area. The overall system also includes a power and dataline coupled to each of the sprinkler heads to provide power and controldata to each one from a master controller disposed to be connected to apower source and coupled to the power and data line to provide power andcontrol data to the sprinkler heads and other elements of the system.

[0010] In sprinkler system of the present invention each sprinkler headcan be individually programed either from the master controller orremotely with a programing unit that plugs into the sprinkler head thatis to be programed. Two embodiments are included to accomplish thatprograming. In the first embodiment, an optional remote programing unitis provided. In the second embodiment, the master controller is dividedinto a power hub and a detachable programing unit that is plugged intothe power hub when not in use remotely at one of the sprinkler heads. Inthe first of these embodiments, both the master controller and theremote programing unit includes a display and keyboard for the user toprogram each sprinkler head. Whereas in the second embodiment, thekeyboard and display are only included in the detachable programmingunit which is possible since the keyboard and display are only needed atone or the other location when a sprinkler head is being programed. Thedisplay and keyboard are also useful at the master controller locationwhen in normal operation of the sprinkler system for displaying time orstatus of the system or for use by the user to inquire about variousfunctions and status of the system.

[0011] Additionally there is an optional weather station coupled to thepower and data line to provide weather related data to the mastercontroller. That data might include temperature, humidity, winddirection and strength, etc.

[0012] Another element of the present invention is a method of wateringa contiguous planted area of interest with a processor controlledautomatic sprinkler head as described above connected to a water linewith that water being delivered through the nozzle. That is accomplishedby selectively oscillating the particular sprinkler head from side toside to direct the water stream from the nozzle from side to side withinthe planted area of interest under control of the processor. Incoordination with the back and fourth oscillation of the nozzle, thewater flow rate through the nozzle is selectively varied to direct thewater from the nozzle at varying distances from the nozzle within theplanted area of interest. Alternately, the flow rate through thesprinkler head could be varied to direct the water stream in and out(closer and farther) from the sprinkler head while coordinating theangular position of the sprinkler head to direct the water streamthroughout the planted area of interest. Using either of thesetechniques, water is directed to the planted area of interest in a in azig-zag fashion to cover the entire planted area of interest.

[0013] The method of programing each sprinkler head for delivery ofwater to a planted area of interest is also unique, as is the method ofdetermining when and how much water to deliver to the planted area ofinterest. First, the area of interest must be determined and programedinto the corresponding sprinkler head. Typically the shape of that areawill be a point, a line, a triangle or a multi-sided polygon in whichcase, one, two, three or more points, respectively, with correspondingelectronic signal values that define the point, ends or corners of thearea of interest must be programed into the sprinkler head. For eachpoint, a value corresponding to an electrical signal to positions thenozzle at the angular position where the water from the nozzle is in thedirection of the point, and a value corresponding to the electricalsignal to control the flow rate through the nozzle to direct the waterthe necessary distance from the sprinkler head to the point, are storedin local memory in the sprinkler head. The values of the necessaryangular and distance positions are determined by the use, either withthe master controller or with a unit remotely at the sprinkler headfirst initiates water flow from the nozzle, and then using the keyboardadjusts the angular position of, and the water flow rate from, thenozzle until the stream of water hits the point in question. In eachcase, a save function is initiated to save values that define the pointsuch that the local processor of the sprinkler head can repeatedlydirect a water stream to it. Once all of the values for necessary pointsto define the area of interest are entered, the local processor isprepared to deflect the stream of water from the nozzle throughout thearea of interest at the single point, along the line defined by twopoints, or within the line segments that connect to points at the threeor more corners, when the master controller instructs the localprocessor to proceed. That being done, the water flow is stopped untilthe master controller instructs that it be restarted.

[0014] Another unique feature of the present invention is thedetermination of how much water to deliver to the planted area ofinterest when the local processor of the sprinkler head is instructed bythe master controller to water that area. Also during the programing ofthe area of interest into the sprinkler head, the dose (number ofinches) of water that is to be delivered in a single watering cycle isinput to memory along with the corner definitions. Then, using thecorner definitions, the area (number of square feet) of the planted areaof interest is calculated by the local processor. Then, knowing thatarea, the dose and the nominal flow rate through the nozzle for thevarious points, the local processor calculates the length of time neededto evenly deliver the desired dose throughout the planted area ofinterest. That time is then also stored in memory in the sprinkler head.

[0015] If the planted area of interest is a single point, then a nominalarea is used as the area of the planted area of interest for thewatering duration calculation. Similarly, if the planted area ofinterest is a line, then the area of the planted area of interest iscalculated by multiplying the distance between to the two points thedefine the ends of the line by a nominal width for the durationcalculation.

[0016] Then to get even coverage throughout the planted area of interestthe stream of water is varied throughout the area by a technique such aszig-zagging the stream of water.

[0017] The method for determining when each area of interest needs to bewatered also requires that two additional pieces of data be known: astress tolerance level in inches of water (the number of inches of waterloss that a plant can withstand before experiencing damage) for theplants in the area of interest, and a typical value of theevapotransporation rate (ET₀) in the geographic area where the plantedarea is located. That stress tolerance level is entered and saved in thesprinkler head by the user when programing for dose and the points thatdefine the area of interest. Since ET₀ is dependent on the weather inthe geographic area where the sprinkler system is located, the same ET₀is used for calculating when watering is needed by all of the plantedareas of interest served by the sprinkler system, thus ET₀ ispreprogramed into the master controller, or is determined by the mastercontroller as needed.

[0018] With those values being available, it is possible to determine atany particular time whether each planted area of interest being servedby the sprinkler system needs to be watered. This is done by the mastercontroller sending each sprinkler head attached to the sprinkler systemthe ET₀ for that point in time to be used in the calculation todetermine if watering is needed. Each local processor of each sprinklerhead then subtracts the ET₀ value either from the programed stresstolerance level or the results of a previous one of these calculationswhich has been stored as the effective stress value. The resultingeffective stress value is then updated in memory to the value justcalculated. Next the local processor determines if the effective stressvalue is zero or a negative value. If so, the corresponding area ofinterest requires watering for the period of time determined based onthe square footage of that area and other values.

[0019] The next step in the watering process is for each local processorto communicate the number of minutes that are required by that sprinklerhead to water those areas that have reached the zero or negativethreshold. Knowing the number of sprinkler heads that need to water andthe length of time need by each, the master controller calculates themaximum number of sprinkler heads that can be active at the same timeusing the information provided by the sprinkler heads and knowing theavailable water pressure of the water line. Next the master controllerprepares a sequence of steps for activating the ready sprinkler headswith no more than the determined maximum number sprinkler heads in eachstep of the sequence using the maximum number and the individualwatering cycle durations needed by the sprinkler heads that are ready towater. Then the master controller communicates individually with eachsprinkler head at the beginning of each sequence step in which thatsprinkler head has been included to commence watering for apredetermined period of time until all sequence steps have beencompleted. Then when each sprinkler head has completed watering, forthose areas of interest that have just been watered, resets the storedeffective stress value to the stress tolerance level programed into thesprinkler head by the user.

[0020] Another feature of the present invention is a technique fordetermining the integrity of the automatic sprinkler system at any time.To do so, each local processor is programed to report to the mastercontroller: an inability to water an area when authorized to do so bysaid master controller; and when there is water flow through thecorresponding sprinkler head at a time when unauthorized to initiatewater flow. Additionally, the master controller individuallyinterrogates each local processor in each sprinkler head at will torequest an acknowledgment from each local processor as being on-line.From the information provided by the local processor, or processors, bythe lack of a response to the individual interrogations, the mastercontroller is able to identify a possible problem and the sprinkler headwhere that problem is located.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0021]FIG. 1 is a line drawing representation of a typicalinterconnection of the various components of a horticultural sprinklersystem of the prior art;

[0022]FIGS. 2a and 2 b are top and side views, respectively, of thepassive type of sprinkler head of the prior art;

[0023]FIGS. 3a-3 d are representations of typical coverage patternsavailable with various types of sprinkler heads of the prior art;

[0024]FIGS. 4a and 4 b are top and side views, respectively, of theimpulse type of sprinkler head of the prior art;

[0025]FIG. 5 is a typical interconnection diagram of the variouscomponents of the horticultural sprinkler system of the presentinvention;

[0026]FIG. 6 is a line drawing representation of a typicalinterconnection of the various components of a horticultural sprinklersystem of the present invention;

[0027]FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional and block diagram representation ofthe mechanical relationship of the various components of a sprinklerhead of the present invention without the details of the electricalinterconnections within the sprinkler head;

[0028]FIG. 8 is a representative interconnection block diagram of afirst embodiment of the interconnection of the various electricalcomponents of the present invention;

[0029]FIG. 9 is a representative interconnection block diagram of asecond embodiment of the interconnection of the various electricalcomponents of the present invention;

[0030]FIG. 10 is a side plan view of a second embodiment sprinkler headof the present invention;

[0031]FIG. 11 is a partially cut-away side plan view of the sprinklerhead of the present invention to show some of the internal partsthereof;

[0032]FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the second embodimentsprinkler head of the present invention with the cross-section havingbeen taken at about 30° to vertical;

[0033]FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the valve body of the secondembodiment of the sprinkler head of the present invention;

[0034]FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the valve of the secondembodiment sprinkler head of the present invention;

[0035]FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the meter plate of the secondembodiment sprinkler head of the present invention;

[0036]FIG. 16 is a graphical representation of bi-phase data modulationof power line;

[0037]FIG. 17 is a graphical representation of a counter technique fordetermining whether an encoded bit is a “0” or a “1”;

[0038]FIG. 18 is a simplified schematic diagram of the power hub powerline modulation/demodulation circuit;

[0039]FIG. 19 is a simplified schematic diagram of the sprinkler headpower line modulation/demodulation circuit;

[0040]FIG. 20 is a simplified representation of the second embodimentcontroller 100′, and the continuant parts—power hub and programingunit—joined together;

[0041]FIGS. 21a, 21 b and 21 c illustrate the screens of the programingunit when a sprinkler head is initially programed, or reprogrammed;

[0042]FIGS. 22a and 22 b together, or 22 a and 22 c together, arealternative flow charts of the programming/reprogramming of a sprinklerhead;

[0043]FIG. 23 is a flow chart of the local programming of the controllerfor local conditions;

[0044]FIGS. 24a and 24 b together are a flow chart of the operation ofthe sprinkler system of the present invention; and

[0045]FIGS. 25a, 25 b, 25 c and 25 d are illustrations of a four pointsexample used to program a sprinkler head to cover a quadrilateral area,a triangular area, a straight line, and a single point, respectively.

[0046]FIG. 26 is a modified block diagram of the electronic circuitry ofthe sprinkler head for use with a fail safe valve.

[0047]FIG. 27a is a side cross-sectional view of a fail safe valve ofthe present invention in the activated position.

[0048]FIG. 27b is a partial side cross-sectional view of the fail safevalve of the present invention in the non-activated position.

[0049]FIG. 28 is a cross sectional view of the sprinkler head embodimentof the present invention that includes the fail safe valve of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0050]FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art horticultural sprinkler systeminstallation in a residential backyard that is perhaps no bigger than anarea of 30 feet by 75 feet. There is a central, substantiallyrectangular lawn area 1 with a planted edge area 3 which borders twosides of a fence 5. Given the shape and size of the lawn 1, to achievefull coverage when watering, it is typically necessary to provide bothperimeter and central sprinkler heads. Once that is determined it isnecessary to determine what angular coverage must be provided by eachsprinkler head, the necessary minimum water flow rate through eachsprinkler head, and the minimum water pressure level that is required toachieve the desired coverage. For the example in FIG. 1, two separatewater circuits are shown for watering lawn 1 taking into account theavailable water pressure, and the angles of coverage and the necessaryflow rates of each sprinkler head. One water circuit 17 is provided forthe sprinkler heads located around the perimeter of lawn 1, and thesecond water circuit 19 is provided for the sprinkler heads located inthe central area of lawn 1.

[0051] Then for watering the plants in edge 3, it is also necessary todetermine how many sprinkler heads of what type and coverage are need.Then it must be determined if a separate water circuit is needed tosupport the sprinkler heads for edge 3 either due to lack of sufficientpressure to include them with one of the lawn circuits, or because thesprinkler time and frequency will be different than for the lawn area.Typically shrub and flower plantings require watering less frequentlythan does a lawn. If it is determined that the plants in area 3 willhave the same watering time and frequency as lawn 1, then it must bedetermined that there is sufficient water pressure in either of the twowater circuits for watering the lawn 1 to support the additionalsprinkler heads needed for area 3. If there is sufficient water pressurein either, or both, lawn watering circuits and the watering time andfrequency are to be the same, then some of the necessary sprinkler headscan be included in one or both of the lawn watering circuits. However,since the watering time and frequency for edge plants is typicallydifferent than that for a lawn, thus a separate watering circuit 21 isnecessary, regardless as to whether or not there is sufficient waterpressure in one of the other circuits to support the sprinkler heads foredge 3.

[0052] For simplicity of the example of FIG. 1 there are only threewatering circuits 17, 19 and 21 illustrated, however, given typicalresidential water pressure and the minimum pressure needed for typicalsprinkler heads, more typically there will only be 8 to 10 sprinklerheads in each watering circuit. Thus, a lay out as shown in FIG. 1 couldeasily require a total of five or six watering circuits.

[0053] The overall system of FIG. 1 includes the water being supplied bywater main 7 to all three electrically activated control valves 9, 11and 13, one for each of the watering circuits 17, 19 and 21,respectively. The electrical activation of each of control values 9, 11and 13 is individually provided by an electrical signal from timer/clock15 on preselected particular days of the week, times of day and durationof each watering cycle for each circuit. Due to water pressurelimitations and the usual design of such water circuits, nearly all ofthe available water pressure is needed for a single watering circuit,thus only one valve is actuated for any period of time, with perhapseach valve being actuated sequentially when the operational period for aprevious water circuit has been completed, i.e., no two water circuitswill be operating at the same time.

[0054] Note that in FIG. 1 the individual sprinkler heads are indicatedwith four different symbols, namely a circle, a diamond, a square and atriangle. In water circuit 17 note that there are two sprinkler headtypes included, a first sprinkler head type 23 shown as a circle toindicate that the spray pattern provided is 180°, and a second sprinklerhead type 25 shown as a diamond to indicate that the spray patternprovided is 90°. Then in water circuit 19 there is only one sprinklerhead type included, a third sprinkler head type 27 shown as a square toindicate that the spray pattern provided is 360°. The fourth sprinklerhead type 29 is included in water circuit 21 and is shown as a triangleto indicate that it has a very localize spray pattern, perhaps it isonly the drip type of head.

[0055]FIGS. 2a and 2 b illustrate top and side views of typical passivetype sprinkler head 31 that is currently available. Passive sprinklerhead 31 includes a pressure adjusting screw 33 on top of head 31 whichis adjusted when the watering system is installed to set the distance ofthe spray that is provided by that individual sprinkler head. In theside view, spray port 35 is shown to provide the water spray at theselected angle. FIGS. 3a-3 d show that sprinkler heads 31 can beobtained with different spray angles θ: FIG. 3a with substantially a 90°spray angle to provide a maximum coverage area 37; FIG. 3b withsubstantially a 180° spray angle to provide a maximum coverage area 39;FIG. 3c with substantially a 270° spray angle to provide a maximumcoverage area 41; and FIG. 3d with substantially a 360° spray angle toprovide a maximum coverage area 43. In addition there are sprinklerheads of this type available that permit the adjustment of spray angle θwithin a limited range to provide more specific angular coverage wherethe planting or lawn angles are not multiples of 90°.

[0056] A second type of sprinkler head that is currently available isthe impulse type which is shown in top and side views in FIGS. 4a and 4b. Impulse sprinkler head 45 includes a head 46 that is swivelly mountedon a water feeder stem 49 that is plumbed into a water circuit. Locatedapproximately 45° down from the top of head 46 is a water nozzle 47 fromwhich the water sprays during use. Extending out of the top of head 46is a shaft 48 on which is mounted impulse arm 53 and a return spring 58.At the end of impulse arm 53 proximate water nozzle 47 is a water finger55 and at the distal end from water nozzle 47 is a weight 57. Waterfinger 55 is angled to extend immediately in front of the water sprayfrom water nozzle 47 so that in use the water spray strikes on waterfinger 55 forcing impulse arm 53 to rotate away from the water streamfrom water nozzle 47 (as shown in FIG. 4a impulse arm 53 rotates counterclockwise, alternately if the configuration of impulse arm is a mirrorimage of that shown and mounted to the other side of water nozzle 47 themotion will be in the clockwise direction) through an angle determinedby several factors including water pressure, tension of spring 58, sizeof weight 57, the friction between head 46 and stem 49, and otherfactors, dragging head 46 in the same direction to a new position onstem 49. Once the motion of impulse arm 53 stops, return spring 48causes the impulse arm to rotate back in the opposite direction bringingwater finger 55 again in the path of the water spray which again causesa partial rotation of head 47. Thus, if no stops are incorporated thatwould stop the rotation of head 46, head 46 would continue to rotate insmall steps so long as water pressure is provided via stem 49. Forinstallations where less than 360° coverage is desired, two angularlyadjustable stops 51 are provided on stem 49 against which stop finger 59on head 46 comes into contact at the end of a rotation in thatdirection. Once stop 51 in the forward direction is encountered, theangle through which impulse arm 53 can move is restricted, virtuallykeeping water finger 55 in the water stream from nozzle 47, thus forcinghead 46 to rotate in the opposite direction until finger 59 reaches thestarting point rotation stop and then the above described operationresumes with head 46 then again rotating in the first describeddirection with the operation continuing to proceed and reverserepeatedly as described.

[0057] Impulse sprinkler heads 45 are usually used in installationsituations where coverage is needed in larger areas where one impulsesprinkler head would replace many of the other type of sprinkler heads,e.g., in a golf course or large park setting. Even so, various watercircuits are still needed and with the larger coverage area of eachimpulse sprinkler head one is even more limited to the use of a varietyof plantings with a variety of watering needs.

[0058] Thus it can be seen that the prior art watering systems requirethat planting patterns be considered at the same time that the sprinklersystem is installed, and are very rigid and fixed once installed. Oncesuch a system is installed the plant types cannot be easily changed, norcan a new plant type with different watering needs be placed where thewatering provided may be too little, too much, too often or not oftenenough. Also additional sprinkler heads cannot be added later to a watercircuit without effecting the water pressure delivered to each existingsprinkler head, thus making it necessary to add yet another watercircuit to accommodate the changes. In addition, the prior art sprinklersystems require the use of at least six different sprinkler head types,even more if drip irrigators are included among the choices. Prior artsprinkler systems are clearly rich in the numbers of differentcomponents that one must consider using in designing prior art sprinklersystems installations. Thus the existing watering systems stiflecreativity in locating and mixing plant types within a particular area,and just as importantly, stifle the changing and adding of plants in anarea after the sprinkler system has been designed and installed.

[0059] The watering system of the present invention provides for totalcreativity and flexibility, works with water lines of any pressure,including marginal pressure below that of city water systems, does notrequire the use of multiple watering circuits, permits the addition ordeletion of sprinkler heads at any time in any area, accommodatesdiffering watering patterns, automatically varies watering frequencyfrom sprinkler head to sprinkler head, calculates when watering isneeded in each planted area and can accommodate changes, as well as theaddition of sprinkler heads and/or planted areas to be watered, as wellas the removal of one or more sprinkler heads, at any time after thewatering system is installed.

[0060]FIG. 5 shows a simplified installation of a watering system of thepresent invention that is representative of every sprinkler systeminstallation using the present invention components. Such a systemconsists of three basic components: a controller 100 with a display andkeyboard, sprinkler heads 102 ₁, 102 ₂ . . . 102 _(N), and a water main106. From FIG. 5 it can be seen that all of sprinkler heads 102 _(x) areeach connected to the common water main 106 and controller 100 by acommon low voltage electric power/data line 104 (e.g., two or threewires).

[0061] Two optional components are also shown in FIG. 5, namely weatherstation 108 connected to low voltage electric power/data line 104, andremote programing unit 110 with a data line 109 with a plug that mateswith a jack in the side of sprinkler head 102. Weather station 108 canprovide temperature, dew point, wind speed, humidity, evaporation rate,frost/freeze level information to controller 100 so that the time,frequency and flow rates of individual ones of sprinkler heads 102 _(x)can be adjusted for particular weather conditions which may adverselyeffect the plantings that the individual sprinkler head 102 _(x) serves.Alternatively, some or all of the functions of weather station 108 canbe included within some, or all, of sprinkler heads 102 to provideinformation to the internal electronics that the sprinkler head needs tobest serve the plantings addressed by that specific sprinkler head.

[0062] Remote programing unit 110 also includes a display and keyboardsimilar to those included with controller 100. Remote programing unit110 is basically provided as a convenience for the user since all of itsfunctions can also be performed from controller 100. For example, whenan additional sprinkler head 102 _(x) is added to the system byconnecting it to power/data line 104 and water main 106, the plant type,planting dose and stress levels, the area to be covered (i.e., flow rateand angle of oscillation variations), etc., for that specific sprinklerhead 102 _(x) must be programed into the system. Since someexperimentation may be necessary to adjust the water flow rate and angleof oscillation for each individual sprinkler head 102 _(x), the user mayfind it more convenient to be able to do the programing in closeproximity to the sprinkler head rather than having to go back and forthbetween the sprinkler head of interest and controller 100. The operationand programing of sprinkler head 102 _(x) will be discussed furtherbelow after introducing the operational components and construction ofthe sprinkler head 102 of the present invention.

[0063]FIG. 6 shows what might be a more typical installation for thesprinkler system of the present invention. Here there is an irregularplanted area 111 which might have the same plants occupying the entirearea, e.g., a lawn, putting green, fairway, rough or tee area. Thensurrounding area 111 there may be any variety of different plants ofvarying types and sizes. Area 111, as well as the surrounding freeplanted area, are both served by the plurality of individually programedsprinkler heads 102 _(x) that are all connected to the same water main106 and the same electric power/data line 104 from one controller 100.Additionally, the present invention can also be used to water adjacentirregular areas which each have a different species or type of plantoccupying the same area, e.g., a golf courses with various types andlengths of grasses in each area, with perhaps various free planted areasat random locations with everything being served by the same singlewater main 106 and a single controller 100 and corresponding electricpower/data line 104.

[0064]FIG. 7 is a combined cross-section/block diagram of a firstembodiment sprinkler head 102 of the present invention. A threaded port113 is provided to plumb sprinkler head 102 to water main 106 by meansof a riser and couplers as necessary to deliver water to washer seat112, and then into water chamber 121. Alternately, where the sprinklerwater main and risers are made of PVC with various parts glued together,the end shown as threaded port 113 in FIG. 7 can be unthreaded with aninner diameter that is slightly larger than the outer diameter of theriser to which sprinkler head 102 is to be attached so that port 106 ofsprinkler head 102 can be glued to the riser in the same way that theother parts are glued together. In a normally closed position, washer114 abuts washer seat 112 with washer 114 mounted on a movable washerbase 116 which is biased in the closed position by return spring 120pressing downward on the top side of washer base 116. To control thetiming and flow rate of water from water main 106 into water chamber121, affixed to washer seat 116, is one end of a lever arm 117 thatpasses through water tight seal 118 in the side of water chamber 121 andextends into outer chamber 123. There, the other end of lever arm 117 iscoupled to ball-screw follower 122 on screw 124. In turn, screw 124 iscoupled to the shaft of flow stepper motor 128 via a flexible coupler126. Then as ball-screw follower 122 is advanced in one direction or theother as flow stepper motor 128 causes screw 124 to rotate, lever arm117 in turn causes washer seat 116 to move away from, or closer to,washer seat 112 thus controlling the water flow rate into water chamber121. The control of flow stepper motor 128 is discussed more fullybelow. Once water begins flowing through valve seat 112, that wateradvances to and through nipple 130, passed leaf spring 132 andeventually is expelled from sprinkler head 102 through angled nozzle150, typically angled at approximately 22° to 45° to horizontal outsideouter shell 154, or any other selected angle or adjustable angle tomatch the location.

[0065] One end of leaf spring 132 is mounted on one side of nipple 130with fastener 134 and extends across the opening of nipple 130. Mountedon the top side of the opposite end of leaf spring 132 is a smallpermanent magnet 136 with a flow Hall sensor 138 mounted at a fixedlocation adjacent the opposite end of leaf spring 132. In the quiescentstate with no water flowing through water chamber 121, magnet 136 isbiased into close proximity with flow Hall sensor 138. Flow Hall sensor138 is provided to determine the proximity of leaf spring magnet 136 toitself with magnet 136 being closer when the water flow rate is low andfurther away as the flow rate increases. Thus, flow Hall sensor 138provides a signal that is directly related to the flow rate of waterthrough water chamber 121. Once water flows through nipple 130, itadvances to nozzle assembly 140 at the top of water chamber 121 and thenout nozzle 150 at the rate provided by flow stepper motor 128 inconjunction with flow Hall sensor 138 as will be described more fullybelow. Note: the location of magnet 136 and flow Hall sensor 138 can bemounted in opposite position to that described above.

[0066] Nozzle assembly 140 includes several components with stem 144 ofnozzle 150 passing through the center of a circular disk 142. Disk 142has a portion thereof that extends through washer 162 into the topportion of water chamber 121 and is captured in that position withfreedom to rotate continuously in either direction through 360°+ with nostops to prevent continuous travel in either direction. External towater chamber 121 and within outer chamber 123 (which does not containpressurized water, and preferably no water), completely around the topedge of disk 143 there is defined nozzle positioning gear teeth 143.Meshing with gear teeth 143 of disk 142 is drive gear 146 which is, inturn, mounted on motor shaft 147 of rotation stepper motor 148.Additionally, at one point on the outer edge of the bottom of disk 142,magnet 160 is mounted at the 0° point of disk 142. Mounted in a fixedposition on the inside surface of water chamber 121, opposite magnet 160when disk 142 is in the 0° position, is position Hall sensor 158. Beforesprinkler head 102 begins to spray water from nozzle 150, rotationstepper motor 148 is actuated to turn nozzle gear 142 to position magnet160 opposite position Hall sensor 158 to initialize the position ofnozzle 150 to 0°. That having been done, and the gear ratio betweennozzle gear 142 and drive gear 146 being known, the angular position ofnozzle 150 is determined during operation by keeping track of thenumber, and direction, of revolutions of rotation of stepper motor 148.Note: position Hall sensor 158 and magnet 160 can be mounted in theopposite positions to those described above.

[0067] Also shown in FIG. 7 is a printed circuit board to which all ofthe electronic components of sprinkler head 102 are attached and/ormounted (details as to what is included is discussed further withrespect to FIGS. 8 and 9) with power/data line 104 connected thereto.Additionally, jack 156 is wired to printed circuit board 152 and mountedthrough outer shell 154 to provide a point of connection for remotecontroller 110.

[0068]FIG. 8 provides a first embodiment of the internal block diagramsfor each of the various components of the present invention and theinterconnections between those components, including the optional units.Here only one sprinkler head 102 is shown interconnected to the otherelectronic subsystems of the present invention. Each additionalsprinkler head 102 would connect to electric/data line 104 in the sameway as does the single sprinkler head 102 shown in FIG. 8 with each ofthe other subsystems interfacing with all connected sprinkler heads 102in the same way as shown for the one sprinkler head 102. At the top ofFIG. 8 is a block diagram of controller 100 with 115 vAC applied to anAC/DC converter 182 to provide the internal voltage levels for thecomponents within controller 100, as well as a DC voltage level (e.g.,34 vDC) to be applied to electric power/data line 104. Also included incontroller 100 is a microprocessor 170 and corresponding crystaloscillator which is connected via internal data bus 171 to RAM 172, ROM174, display 176, keyboard 178 and data encoder/decoder 180. Dataencoder/decoder 180, in turn is connected to AC/DC converter 182 toapply or detect a pulse data signals to/from the DC voltage signal onelectric power/data line 104. The encoded data includes identificationof the specific sprinkler head 102 to or from which the data is directedor from which it originates. There is further discussion of the pulseddata technique used on electric power/data line 104 below.

[0069] Controller 100 is the master control of the entire system of thepresent invention. As such, microprocessor 170 performs variousfunctions which are controlled by the firmware prestored in ROM 174 withRAM 172 containing information, individually, for each sprinkler 102connected to electric power/data line 104, with that data being loadedinto RAM 172 as each sprinkler head 102 is added to the overall system.The data in RAM 172 is initially loaded into the system either fromcontroller 100 via keyboard 178 with user interaction based oninformation requests presented on display 176. The information for eachsprinkler 102 loaded into RAM 172 includes a numerical designation foreach sprinkler together with additional information relative to thatspecific sprinkler head. Display 176 and keyboard 178 could also be usedduring normal operation of the system to review or edit the settings foreach sprinkler head 102, to show the overall status of the system, dateand time of day, and temperature and humidity if weather station 108 isincluded with the system. Then data encoder/decoder 180, under controlof microprocessor 170, encodes data on bus 171 for each sprinkler head102 individually and applies that data to electric/data line 104 fortransmission, or to decode incoming data which is then placed on bus 171for use by microprocessor 170 and storage in RAM 172. In a typicalinstallation, electric/data line 104 that carries 34 vDC modulated witha pulsed data signal that goes to all sprinkler heads 102 and optionalweather station 108, if used.

[0070] Given the various data relative to each sprinkler head 102, andknowing the available water pressure in water main 106, microprocessor170 could also calculate the possibility and options of combinations ofhaving more than one sprinkler head 102 activated at the same timewithout impacting the delivery and coverage of water from each activatedsprinkler head 102. Then adjusting the activation times of eachsprinkler head 102 accordingly.

[0071] The second block from the top of FIG. 8 presents an electricalblock diagram representative of the electronics of sprinkler head 102.Included in each sprinkler head is a local microprocessor 184 andcorresponding crystal oscillator. Local microprocessor 184 interfacesvia data bus 186 with RAM 188, ROM 190, data encoder/decoder 192 andstepper motor controller 196. Here local microprocessor 184 performsvarious functions which are controlled by the firmware prestored in ROM190 with RAM 188 being provided for temporary data storage and storageof the data programed into the sprinkler head when the sprinkler head isfirst installed in the overall system, e.g., sprinkler head number,stress and dose levels and plant type, area to be watered in each passand the corresponding flow rate of water through, and rotational angleof the sprinkler head when used to deliver water to the programed area.Data encoder/decoder 192 functions similarly to data encoder/decoder 180of controller 100 interfacing data to and from electric data line 104 ina preset pulse format via power supply 194.

[0072] Power supply 194 performs a dual function in sprinkler head 102.First, using the DC voltage level on electric/data line 104 provided bycontroller 100, power supply 194 provides the operating voltage levelfor each of the components in the sprinkler head, e.g., 12 vDC and 5 vDC(for simplicity the voltage lines from power supply 195 to each of theother components are not shown). Second, power supply 194 is the conduitfor the pulsed data signal on the DC voltage level of electric/data line104 to and from sprinkler head 102.

[0073] Thus when sprinkler head 102 is to turned on, controller 100encodes data on electric/data line 104 with the sprinkler head numberwhich is then received by all sprinkler heads 102 and only acted on bythe sprinkler head identified in the message which is provided to localmicroprocessor 184 via data bus 186. Once activated, the angularposition of nozzle 150 is reset using Hall sensor 158 in conjunctionwith magnet 160 as discussed above in relation to FIG. 7. Then, localmicroprocessor 184, using the data in RAM 188 and firmware in ROM 190,provides flow rate and rotational angle information which is applied tostepper motor controller 196 to activate and control the operation offlow rate stepper motor 128 and rotation stepper motor 148 to applywater through nozzle 150 to the programmed area. Each individualsprinkler head 102 has at least one particular water coverage pattern orindividual plant that has been programed into RAM 188 by the user to beused when activated. To maintain the desired coverage pattern from thesprinkler head, a flow rate Hall sensor 138 operating in conjunctionwith magnet 136 (FIG. 7) provides feedback to stepper motor controller196 throughout the operation of the actual flow rate of water throughthe sprinkler head corresponding to the flow rate valve setting ofnozzle 150.

[0074] Also, a direct connection from local microprocessor 184 isprovided to jack 156 (e.g., phono jack) to provide external access forprograming or reprogramming sprinkler head 102 when it is firstinstalled in the system or when the coverage pattern is being changed,perhaps as a result of changing the plantings to be served by theparticular sprinkler head. Jack 156 is provided so that the optionalremote programing unit 110 can be used directly at the sprinkler headfor programing purposes, rather than performing programing fromcontroller 100 which may be some distance from the individual sprinklerhead 102 that is being programed.

[0075] Sprinkler head 102 must be first connected to electric/data line104 before it can be programed by either controller 100 or remoteprograming unit 110 so that power internal to sprinkler head 102 ispresent. Remote programing unit 110 includes a microprocessor 214coupled via data bus 216 to RAM 218, ROM 220, display 222 and keyboard224. When remote programing unit 110 is used, a remote/data line 109provides a direct connection via jack 156 between microprocessor 214 inremote programing unit 100 and local microprocessor 184 in the sprinklerhead that is being programed. During programing, display 222 andkeyboard 224 of remote programming unit 110 are used in the same way asthe corresponding components in controller 100 would be used ifprograming were performed using controller 100.

[0076] The second optional unit for the system of the present inventionis weather station 108. Weather station 108 contains a microprocessor198 and corresponding crystal oscillator couple via data bus 199 to RAM200, ROM 202, data encoder/decoder 204, temperature sensor 208, humiditysensor 210 and wind sensor 212. Similar to sprinkler head 102, weatherstation 108 also contains a dual function power supply 206 thatfunctions in the same way. In addition, weather station 108 is coupledto electric/data line 104 to transfer the detected weather conditioninformation to controller 100 to be used to alter the timing and actualoperation of the various sprinkler heads. For example, controller 100may contain a subroutine to vary the flow rate and rotational angle of asprinkler head given certain wind conditions. The weather informationmight also be used to modify the frequency and duration of activation ofeach sprinkler head based on various combinations of the weatherinformation. For example, low temperature and high humidity with low, orno, wind could be used as an indicator of potential frost conditions,and knowing that a particular plant served by a particular sprinklerhead is subject to frost damage, controller 100 could activate thatparticular sprinkler head at a time other than the usual time programedinto the system for that sprinkler head. Other types of weatherconditions could also be detected with controller 100 similarlymodifying the operation schedule of some or all of the sprinkler heads.

[0077]FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the internalblock diagrams for each of the various components of the presentinvention and the interconnections between those components, includingthe optional weather station. In FIG. 9 each block that is the same asthe blocks in FIG. 8 retains the same reference number to simplify thecomparison and discussion of the two embodiments. By comparing FIGS. 8and 9 it can be seen that the blocks of sprinkler head 102 and optionalweather station 108, respectively, are identical, including theinterconnections between them. The difference between the secondembodiment and the first embodiment is basically the merging of theremoteness of remote programing unit 110 (FIG. 8) into detachableprograming module 110′ as part of controller 100′. Referring to FIG. 8,it can be seen that there is shown a display and a keyboard in each ofcontroller 100 and remote programing unit 110. By eliminating display176 and keyboard 178 from controller 100 (see FIG. 8) creates power hub115 of controller 100′ which alone controls the operation of thesprinkler system. By interfacing secondary data line 109′ (in FIG. 8 itis remote data line 109) directly between secondary microprocessor 214of programing module 110′ with primary microprocessor 170 of power hub115, the addition of programing module 110′ provides the user interfaceto controller 100′ which power hub does not independently include. Withpower hub 115 and programing module 110′ interconnected, a keyboard 224and display 222 are provided at controller 100′ so that the user canprogram individual sprinkler heads from controller 100′, as well aspermitting the user to interface with controller 100′ during normalstandby and operation of the sprinkler system.

[0078] So that the second embodiment can also perform remote programingof the sprinkler heads, programing module 110′ is detachable from powerhub 115 by unplugging secondary data line 109′ from power hub 115. Thenat the location of the sprinkler head 102 to be programed, orreprogrammed, secondary data line 109′ is plugged into jack 156 of thatsprinkler head which is tied directly to local microprocessor 184. Inthis configuration, programing module 110′ is powered via secondary dataline 109′ either from primary microprocessor 170 in power hub 115, orlocal microprocessor 184 in sprinkler head 102 (as is remote programingunit 110 in the first embodiment of FIG. 8). Thus the actual operationof the second embodiment of FIG. 9 functions the same as described abovewith respect to the first embodiment in FIG. 8.

[0079] In actual operation, a connector is provided between programingmodule 110′ and power hub to make the necessary electrical connection ofsecondary data line 109′ to power hub 115, as well as to provide amechanical fastener to retain programing module 110′ in place. Thismechanical retaining feature offers an advantage over the firstembodiment since it will reduce the possibility of misplacing programingmodule 110′, unlike remote programing unit 110 which could be leftanywhere when not in use with a good chance that the location will beforgotten.

[0080] The present invention also includes a second embodiment sprinklerhead 102′ as shown in FIGS. 10-12. FIG. 10 a side plan view of thesecond embodiment sprinkler head 102′ illustrating the five externallyvisible components: the lower extension of valve body 226; lowerhemisphere 228; printed circuit (pc) board/control component housing230; top dome 232; and nozzle tube 150′. As can be seen in this view,top dome 232 is spaced apart from the top surface of pc board/controlcomponent housing 230 so that dome 232 is free to rotate relative tohousing 230, together with nozzle 150′, which will become clear fromFIGS. 11 and 12.

[0081]FIG. 11 is a partial cut-away view of sprinkler head 102′ of FIG.10 with portions of valve shell 226, lower hemisphere 228, pcboard/control component housing 230, top dome 232 and seal cap 238cut-away to permit partial viewing of internal components. FIG. 12,similarly, is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment sprinklerhead 102′ with the cross-section having been taken at about 30° tovertical and from the opposite side from that shown in FIG. 11.

[0082] From FIGS. 11, 12 and 13, valve shell 226 can be seen to have aninternal cavity 240 in the portion that extends outward from lowerhemisphere 288 with internal cavity 240 having an internal diameter thatis substantially the same as the outer diameter of a PVC plastic risertube that sprinkler head 102′ is to be mounted on. By making valve shell226 also from PVC plastic, sprinkler head 102′ can be glued to the PVCriser to minimize the possibility of vandalism, either by taking thesprinkler head 102′, or by rotating sprinkler head 102′ so that otherthan the programed area is watered when sprinkler head 102′ isactivated. Extending upward within valve shell 226, internal cavity 240bottoms out to limit the distance that the PVC riser can extendtherewithin. Opening into the internal end of cavity 240, and extendingupward through valve shell 226, is water channel 242 that has aninternal diameter that is much smaller than that of cavity 240. Waterchannel 242 also extends downward from channel outlet 262 in the top ofvalve shell 226 with both portions of water channel 242 aligned witheach other on opposite sides of valve passage 260 with the longitudinalcenter line of valve passage 260 oriented perpendicularly to thelongitudinal axis of valve shell 226.

[0083] Additionally, FIG. 14 shows valve body 244, having a circularcross-section along the entire length taken perpendicularly to thelongitudinal axis thereof and having three sections: main body 245;valve stem 256; and retainer stem 257 having a smaller diameter thanmain body 245. Valve body 244 fits within valve passage 260 of valveshell 226 (see FIGS. 11-13) with the retainer stem 257 end insertedfirst with water passage 260 in main body 245 alignable, perpendicularto, or partially or completely aligned with, both portions of waterchannel 242 to control the water flow rate through valve shell 226 andeventually out from nozzle 150′ as valve stem 256 is rotated asdiscussed below. To keep valve body 244 in position, a retainer ring, or“O” ring, is placed in groove 258 in retainer stem 257.

[0084] Above the top of valve shell 226 is a central hole throughprinted circuit board 152. Mounted above that hole is flow meter plate234 (see FIG. 15) which has a central hole of substantially the samedimension as the hole in printed circuit board 152. Flow meter plate 234is shown here secured to printed circuit board 152 by means of holes264. Attached to the inner edge of, and extending substantially acrossthe center of, the hole in flow meter plate 234 is meter finger 236 withtab 237 extending to the side of flow meter finger 236 near the freeend. When mounted in place on printed circuit board 152, tab 237 of flowmeter finger 236 is directly above channel outlet 262 of valve shell 226when no water is flowing (see FIGS. 11 and 12). Printed circuit board152 is sandwiched between flow meter plate 234 and the top of valveshell 226 with the fastening devices used passing through holes 264 andprinted circuit board 152 with the distal end of each fastener securedto the top of valve shell 226. Mounted on tab 136 is permanent magnet136, which in conjunction with flow rate Hall sensor 138 mountedadjacent thereto outside the central hole in flow meter plate 234,provides a measure of the water flow rate past flow meter finger 236 andtab 237 which function in the same way described above in the firstembodiment sprinkler head. Note, while the holes shown in FIGS. 12 and15 are round, they may be of any shape.

[0085] To prevent water coming into contact with the conductive tracesand electronic components on printed circuit board 152, seal cap 238surrounds flow meter plate 234 and extends from printed circuit board tothe inside of the top surface of pc board/control component housing 230and seals with both surfaces. The conductive traces and the electroniccomponents shown in the sprinkler head 102 electronics block in FIGS. 8and 9 are located on pc board 152 outside seal cap 238. For simplicity,the only electronics shown mounted on pc board 152 are flow steppermotor 128 and rotation stepper motor 148. In addition, internalelectric/data line 250 runs between pc board 152, through lowerhemisphere 228, and electric/data line connector 248 into whichelectric/data line 104 connects (see FIGS. 8 and 9); and a line extendsfrom local microprocessor 184 (see FIGS. 8 and 9) on pc board 152 toremote control connector 156 also in lower hemisphere 228.

[0086] To control the position of water passage 246 in valve body 244,relative to water channel 242 through valve shell 226, flow steppermotor 128 is provided under control of local microprocessor 184 andfeedback from flow rate Hall sensor 138 as discussed above relative tothe first embodiment sprinkler head. The shaft of flow stepper motor 138extends downward through pc board 152 with flow stepper motor helicalgear 252 mounted on the shaft. Similarly, valve stem helical gear 254 ismounted on valve stem 256 with gears 252 and 254 meshed with each otherto cause the selected rotation of valve body 244 within valve shell 226.

[0087] Extending downward through a water tight seal in the center ofthe top of pc board/control component housing 230 is the lower end ofnozzle tube 150′ which is secured in place with a rotatable fitting (notshown) within housing 230. Above housing 230, nozzle gear 142 is securedaround nozzle tube 150′ with permanent magnet 160 mounted in oneposition near the edge. Mounted in a fixed position on the top ofhousing 230, a fixed distance from the furthest extent of gear 142, isrotation/position Hall sensor 158. Additionally, shaft 147 of rotationstepper motor 148 extends upward through the top of housing 230 withdrive gear 146 mounted on shaft 147 and positioned to mesh with gear 142to turn nozzle 150′ to direct angular placement of the water exitingnozzle 150′. Finally, top dome 232 is secured to nozzle 150′ spacedapart from the outer edge of the top of housing 230 to prevent foreignmatter from being captured by gears 142 and 146 and to protect Hallsensor 158 and magnet 160.

[0088] Any power line modulation scheme can be used with the presentinvention. One such scheme, generally known as bi-phase, is illustratedin FIGS. 16 and 17 with the signal going in either direction, and thatdirection can not be determined by merely looking at the signal, onelectric/data line 104. In such a communication technique, the unitsending the signal waits a predetermined length of time after sending asignal to listen for a response from the unit being communicated with.Viewing FIG. 16 a modulated portion of the electric/data signal 266 isillustrated. Here the power line is modulated by turning the power online 104 on and off. In this illustration there are three bit timesillustrated. Each of bits 1 and 2 shows the power being off fortwo-thirds, and on for one third, of the time to represent a logical“1”. Bit 3 on the other hand shows the power being turned off for onethird, and on for two-thirds, of the time to represent a logical “0”.Data modulation of this type on the power line is a self clocking schemeby virtue of the modulation timing technique described. In the classicalform, and as illustrated in FIG. 16, one bit time occurs between fallingedges of the signal.

[0089] There are several different ways to decode a data signalmodulated on a power line. One way is to use the falling edge into aone-shot so that edge can clock off of the same signal and get a 1 or a0. A more reliable method to decode the data from the power line is touse a counter (e.g., an internal function of a microprocessor) to countup during the time when the modulated power signal is low and down whenthat signal is high at the same rate in both directions. Thus, since inthis illustration power is applied for at least the last third of eachbit and the 0 vDC period is always at the beginning of a bit, theresulting count at the end of the bit time when a “1” is beingtransmitted will always be a positive value, whereas the resulting countat the end of the bit time when a “0” is being transmitted will alwaysbe a negative value.

[0090] That technique is illustrated FIG. 17 with the count value trace268 versus time for the signal in FIG. 16. Thus, for Bit 1, the countercounts up for two thirds of the bit time and down at the same rate forone third of the bit time resulting a positive value at the end of Bit1. Also at the end of Bit 1 the count is reset to 0 and begun again forBit 2 with the same result since a “1” is also being transmitted in Bit2. Again at the end of Bit 2 the count is reset to 0 and begun again forBit 3. Since a “0” is being transmitted in Bit 3, the count is up forthe first third of the bit time and down for two-thirds of the bit timeresulting in a negative final count for Bit 3.

[0091] Using a modulation scheme such as the one described above, a bitlength of 3 ms might be used. Since the power is pulsed only when amessage is being sent, the resulting duty cycle is in the range of 20%.Thus, with this modulation scheme power is also being applied both whena message is sent, as well as when one isn't.

[0092] The implementation of such a communications technique in powerhub 115 and sprinkler head 102/102′ is illustrated in FIGS. 18 and 19,respectively. FIG. 18 shows primary microprocessor 170 at power hub 115(FIG. 9) or controller 100 (FIG. 8) shows transistor 270 with the baseconnected to an output terminal of microprocessor 170, the emitterconnected to ground and the collector connected to the 34 vDC supplyline. In this configuration, to modulate electric/data line 104,microprocessor 170 turns transistor 270 on to selectively pull the powerline to ground. Additionally, there is a voltage divider 272 connectedbetween the two wires of electric/data line 104 with the intermediatepoint connected to an input terminal of microprocessor 170.Microprocessor 170 thus monitors the intermediate point of voltagedivider 272 to determine if there is data on electric/data line 104 fromone of the sprinkler heads 102/102′ or weather station 108, and if thereis, to count the length of time that voltage level is low to determinewhether the bit is “0” or “1”, as discussed above.

[0093]FIG. 19 is a simplified electric/data line interface circuit oflocal microprocessor 184 in a sprinkler head 102/102′. Included here aretransistors 270 and voltage divider 272 which functions in the same wayas discussed above for FIG. 18 in power hub 115 or controller 100. Inaddition, since the sprinkler head is powered from the power hub 115 orcontroller 100, a diode 274 in series with the power line followed by acapacitor to ground is used to rectify the signal on electric/data line104.

[0094]FIG. 20 illustrates the mechanical relationship of the combinationof power hub 115 and programing unit 110′ when interconnected to formcontroller 100′. Programing unit 110′ is physically mounted beside powerhub 115 with direct communication being provided between secondarymicroprocessor 214 of programing unit 110′ and microprocessor 170 ofpower hub 115 provided by line 109′ that is plugged into a connector onpower hub 115 (see FIG. 9). When in use at a remote sprinkler head 102,line 109′ is disconnected from power hub 115, programing unit physicallymoved to a sprinkler head of interest where line 109′ is plugged jack156 to make a direct connection with local microprocessor 184.

[0095] In addition, FIG. 20 illustrates one possible configuration ofthe keyboard and display of programing unit 110′ (FIG. 9), or remoteprograming unit 110 and controller 100 (FIG. 8). For user entry of data,four arrow keys (up, down, left, right) 278, and “NEXT” and “PREVIOUS”keys 279 are provided. The use of these keys is illustrated below in thediscussion of the programing of a sprinkler head.

[0096] Before discussing the details of the programing of the presentinvention, some understanding of efficient watering, or irrigation,theory is needed. A recent book that covers much of the current thinkingon efficient irrigation is Landscape Irrigation Design and Management byStephen W. Smith, John Wiley & Sons, 1997.

[0097] Initially, when the average home owner thinks about programing asprinkler system they guess that they want to water a particularlocation for ten minutes, three times a week, and another for fiveminutes six times a week, and so on. That is exactly how most of theprior art commercially available sprinkler system timers are designed tobe programed. However when one thinks seriously about what is necessaryto properly irrigate even one's yard, one soon realizes that it is notthat simple. Depending on the size of the various patterns that one isgoing to water, it soon becomes apparent that ten minutes for onepattern delivers a different amount of water than for another pattern.Depending on the pattern size, a different amount of water, or‘rainfall’, in terms of inches of rainfall, will vary both with the sizeof the pattern and the amount of time that water is applied. The nextthing that comes to mind is that some plants need more water thanothers, and if your landscape plantings include a variety of plants witha variety of water requirements in the same pattern that is beingwatered, some plants will likely be over watered, and others underwatered. In reality, given the guesses that one uses to program theexisting timers, or for manual watering, it is more likely that all ofthe plants will be dramatically over watered.

[0098] The next thing that will become apparent is that the cost of theirrigation system is soon dwarfed by cost of water which continues tobecome more expensive each year. This is true for the homeowner, andeven more so for big water users such as farmers, golf courses andcities for public parks.

[0099] Professionals, when they design and install a sprinkler system,put the conventional sprinkler heads close together to get an overlap ofthe watering pattern of those heads. That is necessary to get evencoverage of the area being watered, but even doing that, the actualcoverage can vary 50% across the watered area. Thus, if the variation is50%, then double the amount of water needs to be applied so that thespots that get the least amount of water get a sufficient amount ofwater to prevent dead spots from occurring in the lawn. Therefore twicethe amount of water will be needed just to keep marginal spots green.Evenness translates directly to dollars.

[0100] There is another aspect to this, and that is how to water mostefficiently. There are numerous theories as to how that can be done withthe most popular theory being the “checkbook” method. To best understandthe checkbook method it is necessary to provide some backgroundinformation.

[0101] If a piece of lawn is cut from the pattern to be watered, placedin an open top box, then saturated with water and monitored to determinehow long it takes water to be lost from the box, the evapotransporationrate of the grass can be determined. Evapotransporation rate is the netloss of water from the soil plus the plant. It is easy to get thatnumber for grass but not so for peach trees. If the evapotransporationrate is known for a particular plant, or crop, how water will bedepleted will be known. For maximum efficiency it is necessary to know alot of things about the irrigation setup, including theevapotransporation rate for the day. When the evapotransporation ratefor a range of soil types is reviewed it is apparent that the ratevaries by a factor on the order of 2:1. Soil, the water holding power ofsoil and the level where the water becomes depleted so that the plantscan not get water, also does not vary that much.

[0102] For the present invention the various aspects of irrigationtheory were taken into account to develop a routine that is simpler touse than the text book method in making the determination of the amountof water needed, while retaining a substantial degree of accuracy. Fromthat review it was determined that the real key to accurate watering isknowledge of the stress tolerance of each plant in the planted area.Stress tolerance for a particular plant is defined as the number ofinches of water that can evaporate before the plant starts realizingstress due to lack of water. That is the basis of the “checkbookmethod”. For example, assume that the plant of interest has an actualstress tolerance of 5 inches of rainfall and each day the localevapotransporation rate is 0.1 inch of rainfall, each day that plantdoes not receive any water the effective stress level is reduced by theevapotransporation rate. Thus, in this example the next day theremaining effective stress level, or “checkbook” balance, for the plantis 4.9 inches, and at this rate it will be 50 days before the“checkbook” balance reaches zero and that plant will have to be watered.

[0103] Knowing the stress tolerance of each plant, it is then necessaryto know is how many inches of rainfall, or dose, need to be providedwhen the effective stress level of the plant reaches zero. For example,grass has shallow roots so the dose is relatively small with the stresspoint reached quickly. Thus, grass has a low stress point, it can nottake much stress; cactus or an oak tree have very high stress points butrequire a different dose because it is a question of how deep does thewater have to go.

[0104] When programing each sprinkler head of the present invention foreach separate area to be watered by that sprinkler head, the stresstolerance and dose need to be entered for the type of plant in each ofthe corresponding areas. The other piece of information that theirrigation system needs is the standardized evapotransporation rate(ET₀) for the geographic location where the sprinkler system isinstalled with the standardized evapotransporation rate being used forall plants at the same location. Since the ET₀ data is available forvarious locations within a state from the State Department ofAgriculture, or an equivalent agency, at least on a monthly basis, thehistorical month by month average can be preprogramed into the systemcontroller, or power hub, for the area where the irrigation system isinstalled. The ET₀ for January may average 1.5 inches of water with theET₀ increasing as summer approaches and then going back down through thefall into December and the winter months. An option would be to connectthe controller, via telephone or the Internet, to the state agency thatdetermines the ET₀ information to receive the ET₀ for the current monthin the local area if the current ET₀ is critical to the plants to bewatered by the irrigation system. In California the ET₀ information isavailable from CIMIS (California Irrigation Management InformationService) as determined by the California Department of Agriculture.

[0105] While the above discussion relative to FIG. 6 illustrated the useof a sprinkler head of the present invention to water a single area, itis dear that a single sprinkler head can be programed to waternon-overlapping areas, with the plants in each area having differentstress and dosage levels from those in each other area.

[0106] Thus there are three values that are needed for each area to bewatered: the historic ET₀ pattern which is indigenous to the area wherethe sprinkler system is installed; stress tolerance of plants in aselected watering area; and dose level for the plants in each area.Since standardized ET₀ is used for all plant types in the local area,the necessary ET₀ information is programed into controller 100 or powerhub 115 for use by all of the sprinkler heads in the system. However,the stress tolerance and dose level being different values for eachplanted area of interest (plant type) to be watered, that information isprogramed into each sprinkler head 102 when each area to be watered bythat particular sprinkler head is established.

[0107]FIGS. 21a-c and 22 a-c are provided to illustrate the programingof each sprinkler head individually. FIGS. 21a-c show representativescreens on controller 100, remote programing unit 110, or detachableprograming module 110′, depending on which embodiment of the presentinvention is used and whether the programing is performed at thecontroller or at the individual sprinkler head 102. FIGS. 22a and 22 b,and FIGS. 22a and 22 c, provide alternative flow chart representationsof the programing steps of the an individual sprinkler head 102. FIGS.22a and 22 b together illustrate programing of a sprinkler head whereinthe number of corners of the planted area of interest is always definedby four points. (Note: Four points have been selected to illustrate theprograming method with a preselected number of points, however thatselection has been done only for illustrative purposes and any number offour or greater could have been selected as a fixed number example.)Whereas FIGS. 22a and 22 c together illustrate programing of a sprinklerhead wherein the user determines the number of points needed to identifythe planted area of interest. As discussed above, if the programing isto be performed at the sprinkler head, then the programing unit isplugged into connector 156. The program to perform sprinkler headprograming is resident in either controller 100 or the remote unit thatis plugged into the sprinkler head.

[0108] In FIG. 22a at block 300 the sprinkler head is interrogated todetermine if it is a new sprinkler head or one that was previouslyinstalled in the system and is being reprogrammed. If the sprinkler headhad been programed previously, controller 100 would have assigned anumber to it which is stored in RAM 188 of the sprinkler head. If anumber had not been assigned, then the controller assigns a number(block 302) and updates the head number list within the RAM of thecontroller. If a number had been previously assigned, or after one hasbeen assigned, control moves to block 306 where the value of variable“PASS” is set equal to “1”. “PASS” is the term used here for each areato be watered by the current sprinkler head and, as will be seen,multiple loops will be made through the flow chart to program thesprinkler head for each pass (area) to be watered. At block 308 thecontroller causes a first screen to be displayed on the programingconsole of the unit being used for programing. In FIG. 21a an examplefirst screen 280 is shown with a pass # 4 (area 4). That number isprovided by the sprinkler head and corresponds to the area beingprogramed currently. The pass number can not be changed directly by theuser, only indirectly by programing an additional pass or by deletingone. The user would enter the stress, dose and plant type information.

[0109] If data had previously been entered for the current pass (block310), flow moves to block 312 and the user has an opportunity to changethat information by pressing a predetermined key on the programing unitkeyboard. For purposes of illustration here it is shown (block 316) thatthe user would press the down arrow, otherwise the user presses the“NEXT” button (block 314) on the console to leave the programedvariables as they were. If there was no data entered, or if the data isto be changed for the current pass, flow proceeds to block 318. If therewas data that is not to be changed flow proceeds from block 314 to block348 which will be discussed below.

[0110] Then at block 318 the user enters the stress tolerance for theplant in the corresponding pass, perhaps by pressing and holding the uparrow key to increase the number in tenths of an inch, or the down arrowin the same way to lower that number. Once the user has set the stresstolerance value, the “NEXT” key on the keyboard might be pressed toadvance the operation to the entry of the dose level (block 320) whichis accomplished in a manner similar to the entry of the stress value andthen “NEXT” is pressed, advancing the operation to optional block 322for the user to enter a plant type by using the arrow keys on thekeyboard to select one from a preprogramed list, or to use the keys in aprescribed fashion to spell the type of plant. In a basic system, planttype could be eliminated with stress and dose alone being entered as thewatering instructions, or in a more advanced system the entry of planttype could be used to check the stress and dose information to insurethat correct values have been entered. In an even more advanced system,the user could merely be asked at screen 1 to enter the plant type andthe system would internally provide the stress and dose informationunless overridden by the user. Pressing “NEXT” in blocks 318, 320 and322 enters that data into RAM 188 of the sprinkler head together withthe current pass designation.

[0111] Thus, when block 322 is completed, the user again presses, forexample, “NEXT” on the keyboard to advance to screen 2 (block 324 andFIG. 21b). Screen 2 is displayed and flow then continues from “A” ofFIG. 22a to “A” of either FIG. 22b or FIG. 22c for the user to definethe area to be watered by the sprinkler head in the current pass. Atthis point in the discussion flow continues in FIG. 22b. Note that atblock 326 the variable “CORNER” is set equal to “1” by the system.

[0112] Before proceeding with the steps in this part of the programingof the sprinkler head, attention is directed to FIGS. 25a-d to betterunderstand the definition of the area to be watered. To simplify thediscussion of the present invention below, four points will be used todefine each area that a particular sprinkler head is to water, however,the sprinkler heads could be programed to use any number of pointsincluding a variable number, i.e. one, two, three, four or more. In thevariable option, as will be seen in FIG. 22c as discussed below, theuser first informs the sprinkler head as to how many points will be usedto define the area to be programed into the sprinkler head. In thesimplified example that is discussed in FIG. 22b below, four points areused to program an area into the sprinkler head, whether the areaconsists of a single point, a line, a triangle or a polygon. Whicheverapproach is used depends only on the firmware included in each sprinklerhead and does not otherwise impact the viability of the presentinvention.

[0113] In the four point example, to program an area into the sprinklerhead, the user might place targets at four points that define the area,and with a water stream flowing from the sprinkler head adjust that flowto hit each target in turn. FIG. 25a illustrates a quadrilateral area400 defined by points 1, 2, 3 and 4. In FIG. 25b there is a triangulararea 402 defined also by four points 1, 2, 3 and 4 with points 3 and 4located at the same corner of area 402. FIG. 25c illustrates a straightline area 404 again with four points 1, 2, 3 and 4. In the straight linecase one point needs to be located at each end of the line segment withthe other two points located at any point along the length of the linesegment. In FIG. 25c points 1 and 2 are located at one end of the linesegment 404, while points 3 and 4 are located at the other end.Additionally, an area to be watered could be a single point as in FIG.25d with all four points located adjacent to each other. In a moreadvanced system the user could be asked the type of pattern desired andthe system would therefore know how many points need to be programed.

[0114] Returning to FIG. 22b following block 326, the next thing that isdetermined is whether or not data has already been entered for an areafor the pass number under consideration (block 328). If there is dataentered, flow goes to block 330 to determine if changes are needed, ifnot, the user presses the “NEXT” key on the keyboard (block 332) withflow continuing at block 348 in FIG. 22a, if changes are needed, thenthe user presses the “DOWN” arrow on the keyboard (block 331) with flowthen directed to block 334. If the answer at block 328 as to whetherdata has already been entered is no, flow continues to block 334 wherethe user uses the arrow keys 278 (up, down, left, right) (FIG. 20) tocontrol rotation stepper motor 148 (left and right) and flow steppermotor 128 (up and down), with a water stream coming from noble 150 or150′ of sprinkler head 102 or 102′ to position the water stream at thedesired location of the corner being programmed. When the user issatisfied with the point being hit by the water jet, the “NEXT” buttonis pressed (block 336) thus saving an electrical value corresponding tothe position of nozzle gear 142 relative to the “home” position wheremagnet 160 is opposite position Hall sensor 158, and the signal levelreceived by flow rate Hall sensor 138 that is indicative of the waterflow through the sprinkler head at the corresponding corner. Thosevalues are stored in RAM 188 in the sprinkler head together with thepass and corner numbers, stress tolerance and dose level for thatplanted area of interest, or pass number. Then the value of variable“CORNER” is advanced by “1” (block 338), and the variable “CORNER” ischecked to determine if the current value is “5”. If “CORNER” is not“5”, the corner number is displayed, screen 2 is advanced and flowreturns to block 334 for user positioning of the water stream for thenext corner or point and saving that information in the same way as forthe first corner.

[0115] Note, if two consecutive points that define the area of interestare the same, then when screen 2 displays the next corner number, theuser need only press the “NEXT” button if the sprinkler head has notrotated from the previous position. In this example, all four pointsneed to be defined even if the area of interest is a triangle, line orsingle point, however, provision could be made in the firmware in eachsprinkler head for the user to also select the type of area to beprogramed with the system firmware then only asking for thecorresponding number of points to be identified.

[0116] On the other hand, if at block 340 “CORNER” equals “5”, all ofthe points of the current area have been entered and screen 3 (284)displays the message “calculating area, please wait” (blocks 342 and344). Once that area is calculated, the length of time needed to deliverthe selected dose to that area is calculated and stored with the rest ofthe data for that area, or pass number, of the system (block 346), theflow goes to block 348 in FIG. 22a via “B” and “B” in FIGS. 22b and 22a. At block 348 the variable “PASS” is advanced by “1” for the next areato be watered, if there is another, by the same sprinkler head to beprogramed. Flow then proceeds to block 350 to determine if there isanother pass to be programed for the same sprinkler head. If there isanother pass to be programed, the user presses the “DOWN” key on thekeyboard (block 352) and flow continues at block 308 to program thatpass as the first pass was programed.

[0117] If there are no other passes to be programed for the currentsprinkler head, the user presses the “NEXT” button (block 354), screen 3is extinguished and the system with respect to the current sprinklerhead is switched to the programed operational mode (block 356) and theremote unit, if used for programing, is unplugged from connector 156 onthe sprinkler head.

[0118] In the alternative situation where the user specifies how manypoints define the planted area of interest is shown in FIG. 22c withflow from “A” of FIG. 22a going to “A” of FIG. 22c. In FIG. 22c, eachblock that is the same as in FIG. 22b has the same reference number. Incomparing the two figures it can be seen that there are only twodifferences. The first difference is that flow from “A” in FIG. 22cfirst goes to block 325 where the user enters the number of points, orcorners, that are to be used to define the planted area of interest.That number can be 1 or greater. From block 325 flow continues to blocks326 through 336 which are the same as in FIG. 22b and perform the samefunctions in the same sequence. Then from block 336, flow continues tonew block 337 where the variable “corner” is tested to determine if itsvalue is equal to the number of points that the user entered at block325. If the value of “corner” equals the user entered number of points,then flow is directed to block 342 with the sequence and functions ofthe following blocks being the same as in FIG. 22b after which flowreturns to FIG. 22a via “B”. If the value of “corner” is not equal tothe number of points entered by the user, then flow continues with block338 where the value of “corner” is advanced by one and flow returns toblock 334 for entry of the next corner. Other than the number of pointsbeing selected by the user and the subsequent number of loops throughthe routine for programing then into the sprinkler head, the rest of theprograming sequence before, in that loop and after are the same as inthe combination of FIGS. 2a and 22 b.

[0119] Attention is now directed to FIG. 23 where a flow chart ispresented to illustrate programming of controller 100 or 100′ for localgeographic conditions where the sprinkler system is installed, e.g.,Santa Clara County, California. When the system is initially installed,or when memory is lost for whatever reason, the system controller 100 or100′ needs to be programed for date and time (block 370), theevapotransporation data for the geographic location (block 372), and thetime that the stress level is to be recalculated every day by eachsprinkler head for each pass, or area, that it is programed to service(block 373).

[0120] Then when controller 100 or 100′ and at least one sprinkler headare programed, the system is placed in the operational mode asillustrated in FIGS. 24a and 24 b which present a flow chart of theoperation of the sprinkler system of the present invention. At block 380the controller, at the preprogramed time of each day sends the currentET₀ for the installed region to each sprinkler head together withinstructions to recalculate the effective stress level for each passthat the sprinkler head has been programed to serve.

[0121] At block 382 each sprinkler head then subtracts the ET₀ valuefrom the effective stress level for each pass and stores the neweffective stress level in RAM 188. Next, at block 384, each sprinklerhead with at least one pass with an effective stress level that is zero,or a negative number, determines the total length of time that it needsto be activated for each pass to be watered and sends that informationto controller 100 or 100′ over electric/data line 104.

[0122] With the information from the various sprinkler heads connectedto the irrigation system, controller 100 or 100′ (block 386) determinesthe sequence of operation of the various sprinkler heads, and how manycan operate at the same time, given the demand of the various sprinklerheads and the available water pressure. Following the determination ofthe sequencing (block 388), the controller sends individual signals,including sprinkler head number, to each of the sprinkler heads in thesequence to initiate operation. Then at block 390, each sprinkler head,for each pass that was watered, resets the effective stress level foreach such pass to the originally programed stress tolerance for thatpass that was originally programed into the sprinkler head.

[0123] Another valve configuration of the present invention is a failsafe valve which automatically closes when power an activation signal isnot present. In FIG. 26 there is shown a block diagram of theelectronics included in sprinkler head 102 that uses this valve. Thedifferences between this diagram and those of FIGS. 8 and 9 are: thereis now only one stepper motor 148 to control the angular positioning ofnozzle 150 or 150′; stepper motor controller 196′ only controls rotationstepper motor 148 and interfaces with rotation Hall sensor 158; aseparate flow rate controller 197 is included and interfaces with flowrate Hall sensor 138; and the operation of fail safe valve 410 iscontrolled by flow rate controller 197. Otherwise the remainder of thesprinkler head electronics and the sprinkler system electronics isunchanged. This arrangement operates in substantially the same way asthe other configurations.

[0124]FIG. 28 is a view of a sprinkler head 102″ that incorporates valve410 and is otherwise the same as sprinkler head 102′ shown in FIG. 12.There is a standard sized PVC fitting 409 at the bottom of sprinklerhead 120″, to be connected to a riser that is connected to the waterfeed line, that leads into an input chamber 412. When valve 410 isactivated the water flows from input chamber 412 into buffer chamber 418and from valve output port 438 and past flow rate finger 236 with thereminder of sprinkler head 102″ operating as was described for sprinklerhead 102′ in FIG. 12.

[0125] From FIGS. 27a and 27 b the construction of valve 410 can be moreeasily seen. FIG. 27a illustrates the details of the design of valve410. Those portions that are shown with simple cross-hatching areridged, while the one portion shown with the more complex cross-hatchingis a flexible membrane 420. As described above, fitting 409 whichcouples to a riser and in turn to a water feed line leads the water intoinput chamber 412. Since water is flowing through valve 410 in thisview, water flows in two directions. The main flow is from input chamber412, through port 424 into control chamber 414, and out output port 438to flow finger 236 and beyond, eventually to nozzle 150′. The secondaryflow follows a control path through filter 426 and hole 428 into controlchamber 414, through hole 434 past needle valve 435 into bypass chamber416, and then through hole 432 into buffer chamber 418.

[0126] Focus is directed to the control path and details thereof tobetter understand that operation of valve 410. First some basics. Filter426 is provided to prevent small particles that may be in the water fromblocking hole 428 which is very small, e.g., having a diameter ofperhaps 0.007 inches leading into control chamber 414 which includesflexible membrane 420 as describe above. The control path continuesthrough hole 434 with the flow therethrough controlled by the extent towhich needle 435 extends into hole 434. Here needle 435 is fullyextracted from hole 434 thus permitting the maximum flow rate throughthe main channel described above. Hole 434 leads into bypass chamber 416and is directed to hole 432 and into buffer chamber 418. Hole 434 has alarger diameter than does hole 428, e.g., perhaps 0.010 inches, and hole432 has still a larger diameter than hole 434, e.g., perhaps 0.012inches. As will be seen in the discussion that follows holes 428, 434and 432 have progressively larger diameters so the later holes in thecontrol path do not create a back pressure on the flow through hole 428.

[0127] Thus when needle 435 is fully extracted from hole 434 as shown inthis view, the water pressure in input chamber 412 and control chamber414 are substantially equalized with flexible membrane 420 insubstantially a relaxed position. Additionally there will be waterflowing through holes 428, 434 and 432 with the water flowing throughcontrol channel 416 and into buffer chamber 418 also serving to improvelinearity in the valve by reducing inherent positive feedback in thevalve. To control the flow through the main path, needle 435 iscontrolled by solenoid 436, e.g., a linear solenoid.

[0128] With needle 435 being spring loaded to extend from solenoid 436,needle 435 is fully seated in hole 434 when no power is applied tosolenoid 436. When solenoid 436 is activated with varying controlsignals from flow rate controller 197 (FIG. 26) via line 440, needle 435is extracted a corresponding distance from being fully seated in hole434 in proportion to the signal from flow rate controller 197. As needle435 approaches and extends into hole 434 from the position shown in FIG.27a, the water pressure in control chamber 414 slowly increases andcauses flexible membrane 420 to slowly bulge outward from controlchamber 414, thus eventually creating a seal with the open end of port424 thus reducing the flow rate of water into buffer chamber 418 as wellas bypass chamber 416.

[0129] As shown in FIG. 27b, which is a partial view of valve 410 inFIG. 27a, needle 435 is fully seated in hole 434 resulting in thepressure in control chamber 414 increasing to bulge flexible membrane420 sufficiently to dose and seal with port 424. With flexible membrane420 sealed with port 424 there is substantially no water flow intobuffer chamber 418 and from output port 438.

[0130] The technique implemented in, and described above, fordetermining when and how much to water an area defined by the user is amodification of the “checkbook method” presented by Stephen W. Smith onpages 180-195 of his book entitled Landscape Irrigation Design andManagement (John Wiley & Sons, 1997).

[0131] While the various details have been provided relative to thevarious components of the system of the present invention, theirmechanical construction and interaction with each other, and theirmethod of operation as a system, no portion of the present invention islimited to only what is disclosed here. Equivalents of each could easilybe constructed or devised. The scope of the present invention is onlylimited to the scope of the claims included herewith, and equivalents ofwhat is described in those claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sprinkler head for use with an irrigationsystem having a water feeder line coupled to a water source to deliverwater to a planted area of interest, said sprinkler head comprising: aninput port disposed to be coupled to said water feeder line; a controlvalve coupled to said input port to provide controlled water flowthrough said control valve; a flow rate monitoring unit adjacent saidcontrol valve to monitor said water flow as it exits said control valve;a nozzle having a proximate end adjacent said flow rate monitoring unitto receive said water flow from said control valve and to expel saidwater from a distal end of said nozzle to said planted area of interest;a drive means affixed to said nozzle for use in angularly positioningsaid distal end of said nozzle; an angular position monitoring unitdisposed to determine a position of said distal end of said nozzle; anda control subsystem coupled to said control valve, said flow ratemonitoring unit, said drive means and said angular position monitoringunit to monitor and control the flow rate through, and angular positionof, said nozzle.
 2. The sprinkler head as in claim 1 wherein said flowrate monitoring unit comprises: a flexible finger having a proximate endmounted to a fixed position relative to said water flow and a distal endextending into a path of said water flow with said distal end of saidflexible finger being in a relaxed position when said flow rate is zeroand a displaced position when said flow rate is non-zero, with theextent of said displaced position being directly related to said flowrate; a magnet mounted at one of a fixed position adjacent said distalend of said flexible finger and on said distal end of said flexiblefinger; and a flow rate magnetic field sensor at the other of said fixedposition adjacent said distal end of said flexible finger and on saiddistal end of said flexible finger adjacent said magnet, with said flowrate magnetic field sensor providing an electrical signal directlyrelated to the strength of a magnetic field detected from said magnet.3. The sprinkler head as in claim 1 wherein said angular positionmonitoring unit comprises: a magnet mounted at one of a fixed positionadjacent said drive means and on said drive means; and an angularposition magnetic field sensor at the other of said fixed positionadjacent said drive means and on said drive means adjacent said magnet,with said angular position magnetic field sensor providing a strongestelectrical signal when said magnet is adjacent said angular positionmagnetic field sensor to define a zero degree angular position for saidnozzle.
 4. The sprinkler head as in claim 1 wherein: said drive meansincludes a nozzle gear attached near a proximate end of said nozzle;said control valve includes a flow rate varying means for varying theflow rate through said control valve; and said control subsystemcomprises: a local controller; an activating means coupled to said localcontroller and said flow rate varying means for selectively controllingsaid flow rate varying means to adjust the flow rate through saidcontrol valve; and an angular positioning stepper motor electricallycoupled to said processor, having a shaft with a drive gear mountedthereon, and mounted in a fixed position to mesh said drive gear withsaid nozzle gear to position said nozzle.
 5. The sprinkler head as inclaim 4 wherein: said control value further comprises a shaft coupled tosaid flow rate varying means; said activating means comprises a flowstepper motor electrically coupled to said local controller and mountedto a fixed position and having a drive shaft interacting with said shaftof said control to adjust said flow rate through said control valve; andsaid local controller comprises: a local processor coupled to said flowrate monitoring unit and said angular position monitoring unit; localmemory coupled to said local processor to provide temporary andpermanent storage for said local processor; and a stepper motorcontroller coupled to said local processor, and said flow and angularpositioning stepper motors, to receive flow rate and angular positionsignals from said local processor and to convert said flow rate andangular position signals to corresponding drive signals to exercise saidflow and angular positioning stepper motors, respectively.
 6. Thesprinkler head as in claim 4 wherein: said control valve includes afail-safe means with a zero flow rate therethrough when not activated;said activating means is coupled to said fail-safe means to control flowtherethrough in response to electrical signals from said localcontroller; and said local controller comprises: a local processorcoupled to said flow rate monitoring unit and said angular positionmonitoring unit; local memory coupled to said local processor to providetemporary and permanent storage for said local processor; a steppermotor controller coupled to said local processor, and said angularpositioning stepper motor, to receive angular position signals from saidlocal processor and to convert said angular position signals tocorresponding drive signals to exercise said angular positioning steppermotor; and a signal converter coupled to said local processor, and saidactivating means, to receive flow rate signals from said local processorand to convert said flow rate signals to corresponding activationsignals to exercise said activation means.
 7. The sprinkler head as inclaim 1 wherein said drive means comprises a nozzle drive gear.
 8. Asprinkler system to provide water from a water source to a planted areaof interest, said sprinkler system comprising: a water feeder linedisposed to be coupled to said water source to receive water therefrom;a sprinkler head coupled to said water feeder line to receive watertherefrom, said sprinkler head being electrically controllable duringsaid watering cycle to continuously vary angular position and flow rateof water to said planted area of interest; a power and data line coupledto said sprinkler head to provide power and control data thereto; and amaster controller disposed to be connected to a power source and coupledto said power and data line to provide power and control data to saidsprinkler head.
 9. The sprinkler system as in claim 8 wherein saidsprinkler head comprises: an input port coupled to said water feederline; a control valve coupled to said input port to provide controlledwater flow through said control valve; a flow rate monitoring unitadjacent said control valve to monitor said water flow as it exits saidcontrol valve; a nozzle having a proximate end adjacent said flow ratemonitoring unit to receive said water flow from said control valve andto expel said water from a distal end of said nozzle to said plantedarea of interest; a drive means affixed to said nozzle for use inangularly positioning said distal end of said nozzle; an angularposition monitoring unit disposed to determine a position of said nozzlegear; and a control subsystem coupled to said electric and data line,and to said control valve, said flow rate monitoring unit, said nozzlegear and said angular position monitoring unit to monitor and controlthe flow rate through, and angular position of, said nozzle.
 10. Thesprinkler system as in claim 9 wherein said flow rate monitoring unitcomprises: a flexible finger having a proximate end mounted to a fixedposition relative to said water flow and a distal end extending into apath of said water flow with said distal end of said flexible fingerbeing in a relaxed position when said flow rate is zero and a displacedposition when said flow rate is non-zero, with the extent of saiddisplaced position being directly related to said flow rate; a magnetmounted at one of a fixed position adjacent said distal end of saidflexible finger and on said distal end of said flexible finger; and aflow rate magnetic field sensor at the other of said fixed positionadjacent said distal end of said flexible finger and on said distal endof said flexible finger adjacent said magnet, with said flow ratemagnetic field sensor providing an electrical signal directly related tothe strength of a magnetic field detected from said magnet.
 11. Thesprinkler system as in claim 9 wherein said angular position monitoringunit comprises: a magnet mounted at one of a fixed position adjacentsaid drive means and on said drive means near an edge thereof; and anangular position magnetic field sensor at the other of said fixedposition adjacent said drive means and on said drive means adjacent saidmagnet, with said angular position magnetic field sensor providing astrongest electrical signal when said magnet is adjacent said angularposition magnetic field sensor to define a zero degree angular positionfor said nozzle.
 12. The sprinkler system as in claim 9 wherein: saiddrive means includes a nozzle gear attached near a proximate end of saidnozzle; said control valve includes a flow rate varying means forvarying the flow rate through said control valve; and said sprinklerhead control subsystem comprises: a local controller; an activatingmeans coupled to said local controller and said flow rate varying meansfor selectively controlling said flow rate varying means to adjust theflow rate through said control valve; and an angular positioning steppermotor electrically coupled to said processor, having a shaft with adrive gear mounted thereon, and mounted in a fixed position to mesh saiddrive gear with said nozzle gear to position said nozzle.
 13. Thesprinkler system as in claim 12 wherein: said control value furthercomprises a shaft coupled to said flow rate varying means to selectivelyvary water flow through said control valve; said activating meanscomprises a flow stepper motor electrically coupled to said localcontroller and mounted to a fixed position and having a drive shaftinteracting with said shaft of said control valve to adjust said flowrate through said control valve; and said local controller comprises: alocal processor coupled to said flow rate monitoring unit and saidangular position monitoring unit; local memory coupled to said localprocessor to provide temporary and permanent storage for said localprocessor; and a stepper motor controller coupled to said localprocessor, and said flow and angular positioning stepper motors, toreceive flow rate and angular position signals from said local processorand to convert said flow rate and angular position signals tocorresponding drive signals to exercise said flow and angularpositioning stepper motors, respectively.
 14. The sprinkler system as inclaim 12 wherein: said control valve includes a fail safe means with azero flow rate therethrough when not activated; said activating means iscoupled to said fail safe means to open same in response to electricalsignals from said local controller; and said local controller comprises:a local processor coupled to said flow rate monitoring unit and saidangular position monitoring unit; local memory coupled to said localprocessor to provide temporary and permanent storage for said localprocessor; a stepper motor controller coupled to said local processor,and said angular positioning stepper motor, to receive angular positionsignals from said local processor and to convert said angular positionsignals to corresponding drive signals to exercise said angularpositioning stepper motor; and a signal converter coupled to said localprocessor, and said activating means, to receive flow rate signals fromsaid local processor and to convert said flow rate signals tocorresponding activation signals to exercise said activation means. 15.The sprinkler system as in claim 8 wherein said drive means comprises anozzle drive gear.
 16. The sprinkler system as in claim 8 wherein: saidmaster controller comprises: a master controller data bus; a masterprocessor coupled to said master controller data bus to control theoperation of the overall sprinkler system; a memory coupled to saidmaster controller data bus to provide temporary and permanent datastorage; and data encoder/decoder coupled to said master controller databus and said power and data line to encode data from said masterprocessor to said sprinkler head and to decode data received from saidsprinkler head for use by said master processor with said data beingcarried bidirectionally on said power and data line; and said sprinklerhead further comprising: a sprinkler head data bus; a local controllercoupled to said sprinkler head data bus and being programable to retainduration of flow, and angular and flow rate variations to deliver adesired amount of water evenly to said planted area of interest, wheninstructed to do so by said master controller via said power and dataline, in response to signals from said flow rate monitoring unit andsaid angular position monitoring unit; a control valve to meter the flowof water through said sprinkler head; a flow rate control means coupledto said local controller and said control valve to receive flow ratesignals from said local controller for conversion to drive signals forapplication to said control valve; a nozzle with a proximate endpositioned to receive water after passing through said control valve todirect said water to said planted area from a distal end of said nozzle;drive means coupled to said nozzle for angularly positioning said distalend of said nozzle to deliver water to said planted area of interest; anangular position controller coupled to said local controller and saiddrive means to receive angular position signals from said localcontroller for conversion to drive signals for application to said drivemeans; and local data encoder/decoder coupled to said sprinkler headdata bus and said power and data line to encode data from said localprocessor to said master controller and to decode data received fromsaid master controller for use by said local processor with said databeing carried bidirectionally on said power and data line.
 17. Thesprinkler system as in claim 16 wherein said master controller furtherincludes: a display coupled to said master controller data bus todisplay status and programing information of said sprinkler system; anda keyboard coupled to said master controller data bus for user selectionof information on said display and entry of individual sprinkler headprograming information.
 18. The sprinkler system as in claim 17 furtherincludes a remote programing unit comprising: a remote data bus; aremote processor coupled to said remote data bus and disposed to beconnected to said local controller of a sprinkler head to be programedto control programing of said sprinkler head when said remote programingunit is coupled to said local controller; a memory coupled to saidremote data bus to provide temporary and permanent data storage for saidremote processor; a display coupled to said remote data bus to displaystatus and programing information of said sprinkler head while beingprogramed; and a keyboard coupled to said remote data bus for usercontrol of angular position and flow rate of said sprinkler head andwater flow rate therethrough during programing and entering data intosaid local controller of said sprinkler head via said remote programingunit during programing.
 19. The sprinkler system as in claim 8 wherein:said master controller comprises: a primary control section including: aprimary data bus; a primary processor coupled to said primary data busto control the operation of the overall sprinkler system; a primarymemory coupled to said primary data bus to provide temporary andpermanent for said primary processor; and a primary data encoder/decodercoupled to said primary data bus and said power and data line to encodedata from said primary processor to said sprinkler head and to decodedata received from said sprinkler head for use by said primary processorwith said data being carried bidirectionally on said power and dataline; a secondary control section includes: a secondary data bus; asecondary processor coupled to said secondary data bus; a secondarymemory coupled to said secondary data bus to provide temporary andpermanent data storage for said secondary processor; a display coupledto said secondary data bus to, in one mode, display system informationand, in a second mode, programing information of a sprinkler head; and akeyboard coupled to said secondary data bus for user selection ofinformation to be displayed on said display and entry of individualsprinkler head programing information; and said sprinkler head furthercomprising: a sprinkler head data bus; a local controller coupled tosaid sprinkler head data bus and being programable to retain duration offlow, and angular and flow rate variations to deliver a desired amountof water evenly to said planted area of interest, when instructed to doso by said master controller via said power and data line, in responseto signals from said flow rate monitoring unit and said angular positionmonitoring unit; a control valve to meter the flow of water through saidsprinkler head; a flow rate control means coupled to said localcontroller and said control valve to receive flow rate signals from saidlocal controller for conversion to drive signals for application to saidcontrol valve; a nozzle with a proximate end positioned to receive waterafter passing through said control valve to direct said water to saidplanted area from a distal end of said nozzle; drive means for angularlypositioning said distal end of said nozzle to deliver water to saidplanted area of interest; an angular position controller coupled to saidlocal controller and said drive means to receive angular positionsignals from said local controller for conversion to drive signals forapplication to said drive means; and local data encoder/decoder coupledto said sprinkler head data bus and said power and data line to encodedata from said local processor to said master controller and to decodedata received from said master controller for use by said localprocessor with said data being carried bidirectionally on said power anddata line; wherein said secondary control section is mounted inproximity with said primary control section to provide user interfaceduring overall operation of said sprinkler system and programing of saidsprinkler head with said secondary processor coupled to said primaryprocessor, or at a remote location coupled to said sprinkler head forprograming of said sprinkler head with said secondary processor coupledto said local controller of said sprinkler head.
 20. The sprinklersystem as in claim 8 further comprises a weather station that includes:a weather station data bus; a weather station processor coupled to saidweather station data bus; a weather station memory coupled to saidweather station data bus to provide temporary and permanent datastorage; environmental sensors coupled to said weather station data busto detect and provide data corresponding to weather conditions; andweather station encoder/decoder coupled to said weather station data busand said power and data line to encode data from said environmentalsensors via said weather station processor to said master controller andto decode data received from said master controller for use by saidweather station processor with said data being carried bidirectionallyon said power and data line.
 21. The sprinkler system as in claim 20wherein said environmental sensors include: a temperature sensor; ahumidity sensor; and a wind direction and strength sensor.
 22. Thesprinkler system as in claim 8 further comprising: a plurality ofsprinkler heads each connected to said water feeder line and said powerand data line, with each sprinkler head including: a local processor tocontrol said angular position and flow rate of water through saidindividual associated sprinkler head; and local memory coupled to saidlocal processor to store angular position and flow rate values for useduring watering said planted area of interest of said associatedsprinkler head, and to store a unique identifier of said associatedsprinkler head with said unique identifier being assigned to saidassociated sprinkler head by said master controller for use incommunicating between said master controller and said associatedsprinkler head via said power and data line.
 23. The sprinkler system asin claim 22 wherein communication between said master controller andeach of said local processor in each of said sprinkler heads isperformed by modulating a voltage level on said power and data line withsaid communication being bi-directional.
 24. A method of watering acontiguous planted area of interest with a processor controlledautomatic sprinkler head connected to a water line, said sprinkler headhaving a nozzle from which to direct a water stream to said planted areaof interest, said method including the steps of: a. oscillating saidsprinkler head from side to side to direct said water stream from saidnozzle from side to side within said planted area of interest undercontrol of said processor; b. varying a flow rate of said water streamthrough said nozzle to direct water at varying distances from saidsprinkler head within said planted area of interest under control ofsaid processor; and c. coordinating the performance of steps a. and b.to direct said water stream from said nozzle evenly throughout theentire planted area of interest.
 25. The method as in claim 24 whereinstep c. further includes the step of: d. controlling said sprinkler headto direct said water stream from said nozzle to said planted area ofinterest in a zigzag fashion from one of side to side and near to far.26. The method as in claim 24 further including the step of: d.controlling said sprinkler head to water a plurality of non-overlappingplanted areas of interest using steps a., b. and c. for each of saidplurality of planted areas of interest.
 27. The method as in claim 24further including the step of: d. controlling said sprinkler head todeliver an non-dispersing stream of water to said planted area ofinterest to minimize evaporation of water during watering.
 28. Themethod as in claim 24 further includes the step of: d. controlling saidsprinkler head to water said planted area of interest wherein a shape ofsaid planted area of interest is one of a single point, a line and apolygon.
 29. A method of programing a processor controlled automaticsprinkler head connected to a water line to water a contiguous plantedarea of interest; said sprinkler head having a nozzle from which todirect a water stream to said planted area of interest, a processor andassociated memory, an angular positioning drive means responsive to saidprocessor for varying the angle of delivery of said water stream fromsaid nozzle, and a flow rate control means responsive to said processorfor varying the distance of delivery of said water stream from saidnozzle; said method comprising the steps of: a. physically identifying afirst physical point to which said water stream is to be automaticallydelivered with a first target; b. actuating said processor to startwater flow through said nozzle of said sprinkler head; c. followingsteps a. and b., controlling said angular positioning drive means viasaid processor to direct said water stream from said nozzle in thedirection of said first target; d. following steps a. and b.,controlling said flow rate control means via said processor to vary thedistance from said nozzle said water stream is projected; e. repeatingsteps c. and d. until said water stream from said nozzle hits said firsttarget; and f. instructing said processor to save a first data setcorresponding to electrical signals to be applied to said angularpositioning means and said flow rate control means to provide the angleand flow rate necessary for repeated automatic delivery of said waterstream to said first physical point at which said first target waslocated.
 30. The method as in claim 29 wherein each planted area ofinterest is defined in said processor controlled automatic sprinklerhead by four points.
 31. The method as in claim 30 wherein saidprocessor controlled sprinkler head waters said planted area of interestwithin line segments that join said four points and form the peripheryof said planted area of interest.
 32. The method as in claim 31 forprograming said processor controlled sprinkler head to automaticallywater a single point as said planted area of interest, said methodfurther comprising the step of: g. following step f., instructing saidprocessor to save a second, third and fourth data set each containingthe same data as said first data set to define said planted area ofinterest as said single point.
 33. The method as in claim 31 forprograming said processor controlled sprinkler head to automaticallywater a line as said planted area of interest wherein said firstphysical point of interest is one end of said line, said method furthercomprising the steps of: g. physically identifying a second physicalpoint to which said water stream is to be automatically delivered with asecond target, wherein said second physical point is another end of saidline; h. following steps f. and g., controlling said angular positioningdrive means via said processor to direct said water stream from saidnozzle in the direction of said second target; i. following steps f. andg., controlling said flow rate control means via said processor to varythe distance from said nozzle said water stream is projected; j.repeating steps h. and i. until said water stream from said nozzle hitssaid second target; k. instructing said processor to save a second dataset corresponding to electrical signals to be applied to said angularpositioning means and said flow rate control means to provide the angleand flow rate necessary for repeated automatic delivery of said waterstream to said second physical point at which said second target waslocated; and l. following step k., instructing said processor to save athird and fourth data set each containing the same data as one of saidfirst data set, said second data set, and a data set corresponding to apoint on said line between said first and second points to define saidplanted area of interest as said line.
 34. The method as in claim 31 forprograming said processor controlled sprinkler head to automaticallywater a triangularly shaped area as said planted area of interestwherein said first physical point of interest is one corner point ofsaid triangularly shaped area, said method further comprising the stepsof: g. physically identifying a second physical point to which saidwater stream is to be automatically delivered with a second target,wherein said second physical point is a second corner point of saidtriangularly shaped area; h. following steps f. and g., controlling saidangular positioning drive means via said processor to direct said waterstream from said nozzle in the direction of said second target; i.following steps f. and g., controlling said flow rate control means viasaid processor to vary the distance from said nozzle said water streamis projected; j. repeating steps h. and i. until said water stream fromsaid nozzle hits said second target; k. instructing said processor tosave a second data set corresponding to electrical signals to be appliedto said angular positioning means and said flow rate control means toprovide the angle and flow rate necessary for repeated automaticdelivery of said water stream to said second physical point at whichsaid second target was located; l. physically identifying a thirdphysical point as a third corner point of said triangularly shaped areato which water is to be automatically delivered with a third target; m.following steps k. and l., controlling said angular positioning drivemeans via said processor to direct said water stream from said nozzle inthe direction of said third target; n. following steps k. and h.,controlling said flow rate control means via said processor to vary thedistance from said nozzle said water stream is projected; o. repeatingsteps m. and n. until said water stream from said nozzle hits said thirdtarget; p. instructing said processor to save a third data setcorresponding to electrical signals to be applied to said angularpositioning means and said flow rate control means to provide the angleand flow rate necessary for repeated automatic delivery of said waterstream to said third physical point at which said third target waslocated; and q. following step p., instructing said processor to save afourth data set containing the same data as one of said first data set,said second data set, said third data and a data set corresponding to apoint on said a line between said first and second physical points, saidsecond and third physical points and said first and third physicalpoints to define said planted area of interest as said triangularlyshaped area.
 35. The method as in claim 31 for programing said processorcontrolled sprinkler head to automatically water a four sidedpolygonally shaped area as said planted area of interest wherein saidfirst physical point of interest is a first corner point of said foursided polygonally shaped area, said method further comprising the stepsof: g. physically identifying a second physical point to which water isto be automatically delivered with a second target, wherein said secondphysical point is a second corner point of said four sided polygonallyshaped area; h. following steps f. and g., controlling said angularpositioning drive means via said processor to direct said water streamfrom said nozzle in the direction of said second target; i. followingsteps f. and g., controlling said flow rate control means via saidprocessor to vary the distance from said nozzle said water stream isprojected; j. repeating steps h. and i. until said water stream fromsaid nozzle hits said second target; k. instructing said processor tosave a second data set corresponding to electrical signals to be appliedto said angular positioning means and said flow rate control means toprovide the angle and flow rate necessary for repeated automaticdelivery of said water stream to said second physical point at whichsaid second target was located; l. physically identifying a thirdphysical point as a third corner point of said four sided polygonallyshaped area to which water is to be automatically delivered with a thirdtarget; m. following steps k. and l., controlling said angularpositioning drive means via said processor to direct said water streamfrom said nozzle in the direction of said third target; n. followingsteps k. and l., controlling said flow rate control means via saidprocessor to vary the distance from said nozzle said water stream isprojected; o. repeating steps m. and n. until said water stream fromsaid nozzle hits said third target; p. instructing said processor tosave a third data set corresponding to electrical signals to be appliedto said angular positioning means and said flow rate control means toprovide the angle and flow rate necessary for repeated automaticdelivery of said water stream to said third physical point at which saidthird target was located; q. physically identifying a fourth physicalpoint as a fourth corner point of said four sided polygonally shapedarea to which water is to be automatically delivered with a fourthtarget; r. following steps p. and q., controlling said angularpositioning drive means via said processor to direct said water streamfrom said nozzle in the direction of said fourth target; s. followingsteps p. and q., controlling said flow rate control means via saidprocessor to vary the distance from said nozzle said water stream isprojected; t. repeating steps r. and s. until said water stream fromsaid noble hits said fourth target; u. instructing said processor tosave a fourth data set corresponding to electrical signals to be appliedto said angular positioning means and said flow rate control means toprovide the angle and flow rate necessary for repeated automaticdelivery of said water stream to said fourth physical point at whichsaid fourth target was located.
 36. The method as in claim 31 whereinsaid processor controlled automatic sprinkler head can be programed towater multiple non-overlapping planted areas of interest.
 37. The methodas in claim 32 further comprising the step of: h. calculating an area ofsaid planted area of interest as an area within said line segments thatdefine said periphery of said planted area of interest, with saidcalculated area having a minimum height and width for said one pointarea of interest and a minimum width for said line area of interest. 38.The method as claim 37 further comprising the steps of: i. entering awater dose level to be delivered to said area between said line segmentsthat define said periphery of said planted area of interest wheninstructed to do so by said processor; and j. calculating, using saidwater dose level of step i. and said calculated area of step h., a timeperiod necessary to deliver said water dose of step i. evenly over saidplanted area of interest.
 39. The method as in claim 38 furthercomprising the steps of: k. evenly delivering water to said planted areaof interest for said calculated period of time in step j. by: l.applying a constant stream of water to said planted area of interest ifsaid planted area of interest is a single point; m. oscillating saidstream of water between end points of a line if said planted area ofinterest is a line by varying said angle of delivery and said flow ratefor said water stream from said nozzle to follow said line; and n.directing said water stream within said periphery of said planted areaof interest if said planted area of interest is polygonally shaped byvarying said angle of delivery and said flow rate for said water streamfrom said nozzle to deliver a uniform amount of water per unit of areathroughout said planted area of interest.
 40. The method as in claim 38wherein step i. includes the steps of: k. a user entering a plant typefor plants within said planted area of interest; and l. said processordetermining said dose level from a look-up table in said associatedmemory.
 41. A method of watering a plurality of non-overlapping plantedareas of interest with an automatic sprinkler system having a mastercontroller, a plurality of automatic sprinkler heads with each sprinklerhead having a local processor and being programed to water at least oneof said planted areas of interest, and a communications link connectingsaid local processor of each sprinkler head to said master controller,all of said sprinkler heads being connected to a single water line, andeach local processor being programed to determine when watering isneeded by said corresponding planted area of interest and the necessaryduration of that watering cycle, said master controller performing thesteps of: a. interrogating each local processor of said plurality ofsprinkler heads via said communications link to determine which ones ofsaid sprinkler heads are ready to water at least one correspondingplanted area of interest and the necessary duration of that wateringcycle; b. calculating the maximum number of sprinkler heads that can beactive at the same time using said information from step a. and knowingthe available water pressure of said single water line; c. followingstep b., preparing a sequence of steps for activating said readysprinkler heads with no more than said maximum number of sprinkler headsidentified in each step of said sequence using said maximum number andsaid individual watering cycle durations of each of said sprinkler headsidentified in step a. as ready to water; and d. communicatingindividually with each sprinkler head at the beginning of each sequencestep in which said sprinkler head is included until all sequence stepshave been completed, using said sequence developed in step c.; whereinsaid method minimizes the plumbing need for said automatic sprinklersystem while permitting said water line to have any water pressure andflow rate.
 42. The method as in claim 41 wherein: said local processorof each sprinkler head, prior to step a., performs the step of: d.programing, for each planted area of interest being served by eachsprinkler head, a watering dose level and stress tolerance for theparticular plants included in each planted area of interest, and settinga variable called effective stress level equal to said programed stresstolerance; said master controller, prior to step a., further performsthe steps of: e. determining an evapotransporation rate for the currentdate and location where said automatic sprinkler system is installed;and f. communicating said evapotransporation rate of step e. to everyone of said sprinkler heads; and said local processor in each sprinklerhead further performs the steps of: g. determining a new effectivestress level by subtracting said evapotransporation rate received instep f. from said effective stress level for each planted area ofinterest said corresponding sprinkler head is programed to water; h.saving each new effective stress level as said variable effective stresslevel in said local processor; i. determining if said effective stresslevel of step h. is zero or less than zero for each planted area ofinterest said corresponding sprinkler head is programed to water; j.determining a total length of time needed to water each planted area ofinterest identified in step i. for said corresponding sprinkler head; k.in response to step a., communicating said total length of time neededto said master controller for said corresponding sprinkler head; l. inresponse to step d., initiating and completing watering of each plantedarea of interest identified in step i.; and m. following step l.,resting said variable effective stress level to said programed stresstolerance for each planted area of interested watered in step l.
 43. Themethod as in claim 42 wherein step e. includes the step of: n. readingsaid evapotransporation rate for a current month from a look-up table insaid master controller.
 44. The method as in claim 42 wherein step e.includes the step of: o. obtaining said evapotransporation rateelectronically from a governmental source.
 45. The method as in claim 42being performed on a daily basis at a predetermined time of day.
 46. Themethod as in claim 42 wherein step d. includes the steps of: p. a userentering a plant type for plants within each of said planted areas ofinterest for said corresponding sprinkler head; and q. said localprocessor of said corresponding sprinkler head determining said doselevel and stress tolerance from a look-up table for each planted area ofinterest to said sprinkler head.
 47. A method determining integrity ofan automatic sprinkler system having a master controller, a plurality ofautomatic sprinkler heads with each sprinkler head having a localprocessor, and a communications link connecting said local processor ofeach sprinkler head to said master controller, and all of said sprinklerheads being connected to a single water line, said method comprising thesteps of: a. each local processor reporting to said master controller aninability to water an area when authorized to do so by said mastercontroller; b. each local processor reporting to said master controllerwater stream through a corresponding sprinkler head at a time whenunauthorized to water; c. said master controller individuallyinterrogating each local processor in each sprinkler head at will torequest an acknowledgment from each local processor as being on-line;and d. said master controller identifying a possible problem in eachsprinkler head identified in steps a. and b., and in step c. if noresponse is received by said master controller from a particularsprinkler head.
 48. A method of programing a processor controlledautomatic sprinkler head connected to a water line to water a contiguousplanted area of interest; said sprinkler head having a nozzle from whichto direct a water stream to said planted area of interest, a processorand associated memory, an angular positioning drive means responsive tosaid processor for varying the angle of delivery of said water streamfrom said nozzle, and a flow rate control means responsive to saidprocessor for varying the distance of delivery of said water stream fromsaid nozzle; said method comprising the steps of: a. entering a numberof physical points necessary to define an outline of said planted areaof interest into said processor; b. said processor setting a programingvariable equal to one; c. physically identifying a physical pointcorresponding to said programing variable to which said water stream isto be automatically delivered; d. following step c., controlling saidangular positioning drive means via said processor to direct said waterstream from said nozzle in the direction of said physical point; e.following step c., controlling said flow rate control means via saidprocessor to vary the distance from said nozzle said water stream isprojected; f. repeating steps d. and e. until said water stream fromsaid nozzle hits said physical point; g. instructing said processor tosave a data set corresponding to electrical signals to be applied tosaid angular positioning means and said flow rate control means toprovide the angle and flow rate necessary for repeated automaticdelivery of said water stream to said physical point together with avalue of said programing variable; h. following step g., testing saidvalue of said programing variable if said value is equal to said numberof physical points entering in step a.; i. if test result of step h. isfalse, said programing variable is advanced by one and steps c. throughh. are repeated; and i. if test result of step h. is true all data setsfor all physical points have been entered.
 49. The method as in claim 48further includes the steps of: k. identifying an additionalnon-overlapping planted area of interest; and l. repeating steps a.through j. for each such planted area of interest.
 50. The method as inclaim 48 further comprising the step of: k. calculating an area of saidplanted area of interest as an area within line segments between saidnumber of physical points that define said periphery of said plantedarea of interest, with said calculated area having a minimum height andwidth if said number of physical points is one, and a minimum width ifsaid number of physical points is two.
 51. The method as claim 50further comprising the steps of: l. entering a water dose level to bedelivered to said area between said line segments that define saidperiphery of said planted area of interest when instructed to do so bysaid processor; and m. calculating, using said water dose level of stepl. and said area of step k., a time period necessary to deliver saidwater dose of step l. evenly over said planted area of interest.
 52. Themethod as in claim 51 further comprising the steps of: n. evenlydelivering water to said planted area of interest for said calculatedperiod of time in step m. by: o. applying a constant stream of water tosaid planted area of interest if said planted area of interest is asingle physical point; p. oscillating said stream of water between endpoints of a line if said planted area of interest is two physical pointsby varying said angle of delivery and said flow rate for said waterstream from said nozzle to follow said line; and q. directing said waterstream within said periphery of said planted area of interest if saidplanted area of interest is defined by three or more physical points byvarying said angle of delivery and said flow rate for said water streamfrom said nozzle to deliver a uniform amount of water per unit of areathroughout said planted area of interest.
 53. The method as in claim 53wherein step l. includes the steps of: r. a user entering a plant typefor plants within said planted area of interest; and s. said processordetermining said dose level from a look-up table in said associatedmemory.
 54. The sprinkler head as in claim 1 wherein said control valveincludes: an input chamber in communication with said input port; abuffer chamber having: an input side defining an input port therethroughwith said input port disposed to receive water from said input chamber;and an output side defining an output port therethrough disposed todeliver water to said flow rate monitoring unit; a control chamberhaving: a first side defining a first small hole therethrough having afirst diameter to provide a passage for water from said input chamberinto said control chamber; a second side defining a second small holetherethrough having a second diameter; and a flexible membrane forming athird side adjacent said input port of said input side of said bufferchamber; a bypass chamber: sharing said second side of said controlchamber with said second small hole providing a passage for water fromsaid control chamber into said bypass chamber; and having a buffer sidedefining a third small hole therethrough having a third diameter toprovide a passage for water from said bypass chamber into said bufferchamber; and an activation means coupled to said control subsystem andhaving a needle valve aligned with said second hole and sized to meterwater flow through said second hole in response to different signalsapplied to said activation means by said control subsystem and saidneedle valve to close with said second hole when no signal is applied tosaid activation means; wherein the distance between said flexiblemembrane and said input port of said buffer chamber increasesproportionally as said needle valve moves away from said second hole anddeceases proportionally as said needle valve is advances into saidsecond hole with said flexible membrane sealing with said input portwhen said needle valve is seated in said second hole.
 55. The sprinklerhead as in claim 54 wherein said first small hole is smaller than saidsecond small hole, and said second small hole is smaller than said thirdsmall hole.
 56. The sprinkler system as in claim 9 wherein said controlvalve includes: an input chamber in communication with said input port;a buffer chamber having: an input side defining an input porttherethrough with said input port disposed to receive water from saidinput chamber; and an output side defining an output port therethroughdisposed to deliver water to said flow rate monitoring unit; a controlchamber having: a first side defining a first small hole therethroughhaving a first diameter to provide a passage for water from said inputchamber into said control chamber; a second side defining a second smallhole therethrough having a second diameter; and a flexible membraneforming a third side adjacent said input port of said input side of saidbuffer chamber; a bypass chamber: sharing said second side of saidcontrol chamber with said second small hole providing a passage forwater from said control chamber into said bypass chamber; and having abuffer side defining a third small hole therethrough having a thirddiameter to provide a passage for water from said bypass chamber intosaid buffer chamber; and an activation means coupled to said controlsubsystem and having a needle valve aligned with said second hole andsized to meter water flow through said second hole in response todifferent signals applied to said activation means by said controlsubsystem and said needle valve to close with said second hole when nosignal is applied to said activation means; wherein the distance betweensaid flexible membrane and said input port of said buffer chamberincreases proportionally as said needle valve moves away from saidsecond hole and deceases proportionally as said needle valve is advancesinto said second hole with said flexible membrane sealing with saidinput port when said needle valve is seated in said second hole.
 57. Thesprinkler sprinkler system as in claim 56 wherein said first small holeis smaller than said second small hole, and said second small hole issmaller than said third small hole.